THE LAWS OF DEVELOPING LANDSCAPE. 



611 



door directly at the entrance steps, the head of the horse naturally coming 

 into position without any twist from the coachman. 



All entrances are wrong that do not fulfil these canon laws. 

 Entrances made so that a carriage has to stop and twist half-way around 

 before the occupants are able to leave it are false both to taste and to 

 use. 



Curves. Cross-roads. 



Curves. — A road should never once change its direction without a reason 

 for doing so ; such reasons may be had in the land, trees and undulations, 

 and the development of objects on the grounds. Roads cutting up grounds 

 for their own appearance show gross ignorance on the part of those who 

 laid them off. 



Cross Views. — Roads should always be arranged to go with the 

 landscape flow, never visibly against it. Roads, small or large, are 

 absolute eyesores when they come right across the foreground of views, 

 as is often seen from houses on expensively developed grounds. 



When a walk proves absolutely requisite in a case like this, it will be 

 best to endeavour to take it across the view at a lower level than the 

 surrounding land, and hide it by the grass sides, and planting, as much as 

 the character of the view will allow. 



Broken Curves. 



The curve of a road should always have a life. This life is often 

 broken by ignorance. Where two curves meet to make a compound curve, 

 there is, according to the " ease " or " quickness " of the curves, a more or 

 less straightness at the point of union ; and ignorance tries to do away 

 with this, thus breaking the curve. Practice and observation will remove 

 this too common defect. 



Ninety degrees being the limit of our observing powers, sufficiently 

 beyond to help the infinite in an impression in massing lines, Fig. 172 

 shows how this will give the sites for roads, so that the observer can 

 grasp the scenes, also showing that the sites will lose observation power if 

 placed in any other position. So, in fixing upon the position of roads, 

 it is necessary, first, to go over the land and put in stakes on those 

 observation sites that show the masses and distance views of the land- 

 scape, and other objects in the land. These stakes will be the better for 

 having flags, so that they will help to gain the general sweep of the 

 curvature from one to the other. 



For the long views that the land is capable of disclosing, the roads 

 ought to come so that the eyes can see these naturally. 



Depth and height, hills and valleys, and objects such as gigantic trees 

 and plants of smaller growth, buildings, &c, and anything that com- 

 mences to build itself above earth, are seen by the laws of profile. (See 

 Fig. 171.) 



Roads go over the observation sites of the land, and must be made for 

 the convenience of the land, and to give beauty at every step. Correct 

 roads bend into curves, ever advancing to their objects of beauty. Great 

 care is necessary to avoid making the curves unshapely. 



