Roads and Paths 



ought to be carefully kept. But it should, 

 if possible, be carried around the lawn, and, 

 if this is not possible, its presence should be 

 accepted as a disagreeable necessity. 



Paths should never be made across a 

 lawn simply to give access to flower-beds, 

 for the flower-beds themselves have no busi- 

 ness there. A lawn is a place for grass. 

 Its object, whether it be large or small, is 

 to afford a simple sheet of verdure to de- 

 light the eye with its reposeful breadth, and 

 to supply a proper foreground for the plan- 

 tations beyond it. To spot bright beds 

 about is to ruin its peacefulness and its 

 unity. There are thousands of country- 

 places in America, from large estates to 

 suburban villas, which would be immeasur- 

 ably improved could all the flower-beds on 

 the lawn and all the fountains and vases be 

 removed, and all the paths — leading no- 

 where but back to the house again — be once 

 and for all turfed over. Flowers can usual- 

 ly be introduced in sufficient quantities in 

 other ways — ^scattered among the shrubber- 

 ies or arranged in massed beds behind the 

 house, or in borders disassociated from the 



III 



