HOUSE AND GARDEN 
July, 1912 
teen inches wide, four inch risers, eighteen and three-quarter 
inch tread and so on through whatever variations may be ex¬ 
pedient. For genuine comfort and satisfaction, however, risers 
of four and a half to six inches may be commended, the treads 
being of proportional width. A slight modification of this scale 
gives a very comfortable step six inches high by thirteen and a 
half broad. Here the extra inch in breadth of tread is gained 
by using a nosing of one inch projecting over the step immedi¬ 
ately below. Width of tread may be increased beyond the fore¬ 
going proportions when the grade will admit of it. Additional 
ease of ascent is secured by ramping the steps, that is to sav, giv¬ 
ing the surface of the treads a slight incline downwards toward 
the bottom of the slope. This inclination is not sufficient to be 
readily noticeable to the eye but it appreciably adds to the com¬ 
fort of anyone going up or down. Ramping can be practiced 
only with steps of wide tread. Excellent examples of ramped 
steps are to be seen in the flights descending into the main wait¬ 
ing-room of the new Pennsylvania Station in New York and also 
in the broad stairs leading from the street up to the Library of 
Columbia University in the same city. Ramping is an old Italian 
device that has only in recent years been adopted by American 
architects but one that so commends itself that we may be sure 
it will be more and more widely made use of. 
Another useful means of lessening the pitch of garden steps is 
to carry them up off the line of the direct slope. By so doing in 
the case of an abrupt grade or a high terrace wall it is possible 
to keep the steps from projecting unduly beyond the lines of ad¬ 
jacent objects. The flight shown in one of the accompanying 
cuts, though attractive from a pictorial point of view, is much too 
steep and could never be otherwise than uncomfortable. 
The reference to terraces brings us to another point of our sub¬ 
ject — the use of walled terraces in preference to grass banks and 
the consequent necessity for substantially constructed stairs be¬ 
tween levels. In this connection it may be noted that such an ar¬ 
rangement gives far greater scope for architectural treatment 
than a series of steep grass banks. Taking our cue from the gar¬ 
den makers of the Old World, we are now fortunately getting 
away from the narrow and mistaken notion that we must have a 
flat or only gently sloping surface whereon to lay out a really 
worthy garden. We are beginning to realize what marvels the 
old gardeners wrought on steep hillsides. Better still we are be¬ 
ginning to do likewise and turn to the best account steep places 
that not many years ago we eschewed as unfit for horticultural 
purposes. The delights of swiftly running water in the garden 
are not to be had without some fall to the ground, while the full 
resources of water treatment with its thousand forms of cascades 
and gushes as exemplified in the Italian villas of the Renaissance 
demand a steep declivity down which to pour with sufficient force 
to produce their best effect. 
Gardening on such grades makes terracing an imperative neces¬ 
sity and moreover implies a more formal architectural treatment 
than would be necessary on a gentler slope. Another powerful 
argument in favor of walled terraces as against grass banks, 
even where the fall is but slight, is the inevitable difficulty of 
keeping the latter in good condition. Grass does not grow to the 
„ best advantage at an angle of forty-five degrees. The ravages 
of weather and the wear and tear of gardeners’ heels and lawn- 
mower wheels have frequently to be repaired; otherwise the sur¬ 
face of the banking soon disintegrates and takes on a moth-eaten 
appearance. Besides, with a retaining wall, one gets more space 
above and below for planting and, where the wall has a moderate 
batter or inclination toward the top of the terrace, there is an ex¬ 
cellent opportunity for rock plants. 
Now all this talk anent terraces may seem an utterly irrelevant 
digression. It is not irrelevant, however; it is only an admission 
of the terrace’s strong claims to our attention, claims that are 
winning wider and wider favor all the time. If we have terraces 
A very successful treatment is achieved by laying circular steps of bricks; 
rock plants may grow in the crevices 
For the informal garden, rocks laid as steps of approximate symmetry 
are much more suitable than a sloping path 
