294 
LANDSCAPE GARDENING. 
screened gravel, four inches thick, well levelled and trodden firmly 
down ; and at last about one inch of the finest gravel which passes the 
screen, all which layers or coats are laid somewhat rounding, that is 
about two inches higher along the middle. If the two last coats be 
laid on in that moist state in which the gravel is digged from the pit, 
the whole will bind down into a solid unyielding body, and remain ever 
after smooth, dry and firm, which are the great properties of a carriage 
road, and which can only be obtained at the first formation \ for if the 
gravel of the two last coats be allowed to be thoroughly dried by the 
sun and wind, it will remain loose for a long time, nor will it bind 
until it has been repeatedly rolled after rain. 
The body of gravel is made much wider than is necessary for wheel 
carriages, because seven feet are quite enough for these ; but as most 
roads become uneven and broken up by the lateral pressure of carriages, 
the gravel is laid a foot farther out on each side to resist, like a buttress, 
this pressure. 
The surface of the road is rather below the turf on each side, because 
nothing looks worse than a long yellow line intersecting the lawn. 
Neither is the gravel much raised in the middle ; for wheels running 
on inclined planes, as the sides in such case must be, they have a 
grinding action destructive of the smoothness of the road. The edges 
of the turf are not kept as exactly cut conspicuously hard lines, being 
allowed to “ die off” upon the gravel, and without furrow or gutter at 
the sides. Neither are there quarters or ruts ; the space of seven feet 
along the middle being kept clean by the repair of horses and wheels, 
so that there is very little labour for the weeder. As little sinkings 
will happen under the wheels for some months after the road is made, 
they are filled with very fine hard gravel from time to time till the 
whole is of uniform compactness. 
You may imagine perhaps that the width is not sufficient to allow 
carriages to pass each other. This is perfectly true ; but when it is 
considered that the turf on each side is so firm as to bear any horse or 
carriage, no inconvenience or destruction of the grass can take place by 
turning out; and especially as such meetings, on a strictly private road, 
can but seldom happen. Besides, a gravel road wide enough for carriages 
to pass each other, would require a surface of at least ten feet,—would 
necessarily occasion a heavy expense to make such a road at first,— 
it would also destroy a large piece of pasture, and, what is worse than 
all, would require to be kept at all times free from weeds; which if it 
were not, would be a reproach to the proprietor every time he passed 
along it. 
