262 



CASSELL'S POPULAH GAEDENINa. 



recede to any desired distance ; a single tree or 

 group of shrubs being occasionally introduced to 

 give force and meaning to the retreat of the turf. 



Some of the most delightful carriage-roads in the 

 country are those that are supported — or rather, 

 illuminated when the plants are in bloom — with 

 rhododendrons chiefly or only ; thousands and tens 

 of thousands of these plants are employed to advance 

 and rest on the turf or 

 gravel at one side, and 

 rise up boldly and meet 

 and mingle with the trees 

 oa the other. 



Garden Walks 



The same general jarinci- 

 ples apply to these as to 

 roads; but as one of 

 their chief uses is to pro- 

 vide a pleasant prome- 

 nade and furnish healthy 

 exercise within 

 one's own do- Fine View 

 main, any reason- 

 able extension of walks 

 within the limits of good 

 taste may be permitted. 

 Still, mere meandering 

 for the sake of lengthen- 

 ing must not be indulged 

 in. One of the most 

 striking examples of this 

 fault ever seen by the 

 writer was that of a 

 zigzag walk carried 

 through a belt of wood 

 about fifty feet wide. 

 The walk skirted both 

 sides of the belt, and was 

 so bent and curved that 

 every now and again the 

 two walks came within a 

 few feet of each other. 



A definite and satisfactory meaning may mostly 

 be given to the curves of walks by the opening out 

 of distant views of the surrounding landscape, or 

 posting objects of interest, such as a choice tree, or 

 shrub, or group, a seat, arbour, or statue, at par- 

 ticular points. By such means the course of the 

 walk may be made to seem natural, and even neces- 

 sary, and the most convenient. As a general rule, 

 pleasure-ground walks are best curved ; the line 

 of beauty seldom or never being a straight one. 

 Hence, to give object and meaning to the curves 

 becomes one of the first duties and the highest 

 merits of the true landscape gardener. 



Pig'. 10.— Lines of Beauty. 



In Fig. 10 the primary object is to illustrate lines 

 of beauty, and show what they are like to the un- 

 initiated; the secondary purpose, so to dispose oii- 

 ferent objects of interest as to make the lines chosen 

 seem the most natural — almost, in fact, the only 

 available ones. Hence, in proceeding from the house, 

 which is in the direction of a, the fii'st curve in the 

 walk is caused by the flower garden, that compels a 

 slight divergence to the 

 left. Proceeding a little 

 further, a dense group of 

 trees and shi'ubs blocks 

 the way, and compels 

 the walk to diverge to 

 the right and the left. 

 Choosing the right-hand 

 path, it would scarcely 

 be possible to choose a 

 more graceful curve 

 thi'ough a grass lawn to 

 the collection of trees 

 planted in the ai-boretum. 

 The walk diverging to 

 the right at this point 

 leads to the dairy and 

 home-farm. The sharp 

 divergence here is ren- 

 dered necessary by the 

 summer-house that again 

 blocks the way ; it com- 

 mands a view of the 

 walks, and the meadows 

 and corn-fields on the 

 other side of it. Of 

 course, the summer-house 

 might have been made 

 the terminus of the walk. 

 But it is generally un- 

 satisfactory to be com- 

 pelled to return on the 

 f,ame walk, where the 

 pleasure - grounds are 

 sufiiciently large to atiord 

 the means of returning by another. In this case, 

 too, there are other reasons for turning to the left, -^t 

 the summer-house — a fernery to ^isit, a rosary in the 

 recess further on to enjoy, and a commanding view 

 of fine landscape, &c., in the near foreground, with 

 a meandering river coiling through verdant meads, 

 like a silvery serpent, in the far distance. Thus the 

 interest of the walk is sustained at all points, and 

 the curves are so adjusted and worked in to surround- 

 ing circumstances as to seem that they could hardly 

 have been otherwise. The difference in walking on 

 such walks, contrasted with the dreary monotony of 

 taking constitutionals on straight lines or round 



