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 
in 
