GARDEN WALKS.

Globe, Volume XXIII, Issue 2232, 28 May 1881, Page 3

GARDEN WALKS.

[From “ The Field.”] It is now a time of the year when garden paths need special attention, either in the matter of redressing or turning, or perhaps in some cases of making ; and very useful time may be spent in discussing the best methods and materials. It is one fortunate feature of the surface strata in the earth’s formation, that gravel is usually within reach, except perhaps in chalky and coal districts ; but as a rule we find gravel abundant, although that article differs very materially in its quality. Wherever gravel is, there sebms to be the beet roads and paths; where chalk abounds, the flints which are so plentifully embedded in it make excellent roads; but in these there is always too much of the chalk present to make the colour pleasing, or the consistency of the surface other than sticky when wet weather prevails. In the coal districts there is usually plenty of refuse material, with breeze and clinker, to make very fair roads; but the colour is not pleasant, the enduring powers of the material are not great, and the dust becomes a trying infliction. Probably there is no material that does not give this infliction more or less; and even in large towns, and where that hardest of all materials, good granite, is employed, the dust, when the water-cart is absent, often becomes blinding and unendurable. But, whilst wood pavements and aaphalte have done so much to remedy this evil in streets, the suburban resident, still finding plenty of mud in the yet too ill-kept roadways, has at least one pleasant feature in the footpaths of his neighbourhood. They are now becoming almost universally constructed of tar composition, and this makes a pavement that is always clean, always dry, pleasant, and safe to walk upon. Few gardeners would perhaps care to have paths of this kind in their pleasure grounds, the black hue of the material would hardly coincide with the natural surroundings, but there are not a few gardens where the fall is considerable in which tar walks would not prove an advantage. Even more enduring than tar pavements are the various asphalte compositions, but these are costly and seldom needed in private gardens, except in suburban localities, where enduring footways from the street to the house are permanent blessings. I have often noted the superb piece of asphalting laid down by the Val de Travers Company on Westminster Bridge several years since, and which yet shows no evidence of wear, although the traffic is enormous. This is a species of footway that in a garden might truly be said to be everlasting. Of all materials none are more in favour than good clean gravel, and a very pleasant walk it makes, subject to frequent attention and rolling. But the happy medium of a gravel that binds well and does not " lick” up in wet weather, and preserves a good colour, is not often found; the extremes too frequently are either the presence of clay in large proportion, making splendid clean paths in dry weather, and abominable nuisances when it is wet, or else the absence of all binding material, thus leaving to the disgusted pedestrian a loose, shingly moving surface that is simply detestable. How very often are paths of this kind seen in our public parks, and, to avoid the discomfort incidental to them, those who would walk in the appointed places are almost driven to make paths for themselves on the margins of the grass. It is not that any short cut is obtained, or anything gained; it is simply to avoid the shingle, the rough and uneven surface of the broad footways, that people thus trespass. A pleasant material on which to walk is of the first importance in these places, but too often it seems to be the last consideration.

Then comes the question, which affords the most pleasant and enticing walking—a hard, smooth surface, such as solid fine gravel or asphalte may give, or a soft, fine surface that is never rolled, but is yet always kept neat and tidy. I well remember that at the old Oremorno Gardens, some twenty-five years since, the walks were occasionally dressed with fine crushed shells, that were ever pleasant to the feet, and left the surface of the paths neat and clean. It was the rule every morning to have the paths run over with long _ birch brooms, less to sweep them than to obliterate the myriads of footmarks left by the preceding night’s crowd. The great reoommond ation of this material was that it was preferred by the visitors to the gross; it was always soft, pleasant, and dry. Such a shifting material could not be employed where the grounds wore very uneven, but in level places it would be very acceptable. In private gardens, where the paths are used only in a very moderate degree, the nature of the surface is of less importance; but in public gardens it shows very indifferent management when the footpaths are so objectionable that pedestrians are driven from off them in search of pleasant walking. It would perhaps be some gain if the garden roller was less needed than it now is. Hot only is the work heavy, but the excessive primness left is not always a nice garden, feature.