GAKDEN WALKS AND EOADS, 



263 



ovals, circles, or meaningless curves, repeated ad 

 nauseam^ must be tested by experience to be fully 

 appreciated. 



Lines of Divergence. — This is a point of great 

 importance. Unless in the case of straight walks, 

 they should seldom diverge at an abrupt or straight 

 angle, but rather glide 

 softly and easily into one 

 another. The primary 

 idea of pleasure-ground 

 walks should be that 

 of leisurely enjoj-ment. 

 Hence, all sudden and 

 abrupt changes or turn- 

 ings should be avoided. 

 To diverge at right 

 angles suggests a sum- 

 mons to business, rather 

 than a stroll for pleasure. 

 Such sudden changes and 

 abrupt turnings are quite 

 in harmony with street 

 traflSc and business pur- 

 suits, but incongi'uous to 

 garden pursuits and 

 pleasures, and therefore 

 out of place in pleasure- 

 grounds. The illustra- 

 tions show how they may 

 generally be avoided. 



In Fig. 1 1 the divergence 

 of the walk is forced by 

 a dense group of Rhodo- 

 dendi'ons. The same prin- 

 ciple is exhibited in Fig. 

 1 2, where a seat or fountain 

 compels a turning of the 

 walk to either side, or to 

 both. The latter is gene- 

 rally preferable and the 

 more pleasant, and avoids 

 any mental questionings 

 as to why one side, and 

 that probably considered 

 the worst, should have 



been chosen rather than the other. By continuing 

 the walk on both sides all this is avoided, more 

 pleasure is realised, and ideas of larger extent con- 

 veyed. In Fig. 11 the main walk is, as it were, 

 continued almost straight, and the branch walk is 

 narrower, and turns sharply to the left. As a rule, 

 the system of nan-owing the walks at the point of 

 divergence is not only a con^-enient one, but fui^- 

 nishes as it were an additional reason why thej^ 

 should diverge. Up to this point a main walk was 



Fig. 13. 



Lines of Divergence. 



needful for the common traffic. From here two or 

 more points of interest of equal moment clairb. 

 attention, and hence two or three narrower walks 

 may suffice. There is one point in Fig. 1 1 that ma 5- 

 be adverted to as a warning — the branch seems at 

 starting as if it were about to rejoin the main walk. 

 This shordd always be avoided, the walks diverging 

 boldly, as in Fig. 12. Here 

 the branches are little 

 narrower than the main 

 walk, and the two 

 branches are assumed to 

 be of equal importance 

 from the seat or fountain 

 onwards. It will be seen 

 that they boldlj^ diverge 

 fi'om each other, as if 

 they never meant to meet 

 again. All this is based 

 on the soundest judgment 

 and the truest taste. If 

 walks seem at starting 

 about to meet again, the 

 question is sure to arise, 

 Why part them? Of 

 coui'se, in small gardens 

 the curves, departui^es, 

 re - meetings, and final 

 coalescings of w^alks may 

 all be seen, even from the 

 starting-point. The small 

 area renders this unavoid- 

 able. But that cannot be 

 offered as any excuse for 

 not avoiding such faulty 

 features in the disposition 

 of roads or walks in gar- 

 dens of larger area. 



Fig. 13 shows another 

 and still more common 

 mode of divergence. The 

 two lines simply form an 

 angle on the grass or 

 gi'avel, and proceed on 

 their allotted coui'se, either 

 of equal or unequal size. 

 In the figure the two walks are of the same breadth 

 as the main walk. The divergence is also so man- 

 aged that no one can tell whether the right or the 

 left is the branch. In the plan they are both desig- 

 nated "branch." They might, however, with equal 

 propriety be termed mains, both walks in the illus- 

 tration being of equal importance. In cases w^here 

 it is otherwise, the angle of divergence should be so 

 disposed as to continue the principal as the main, 

 and show the smaller to be a branch or side walk. 



