EXECUTION OF SOME OF THE LANDSCAPE FEATURES - Continued
[Illustration: Fig. 65. Protecting a tree in filled land.]
Nearly all trees are injured if the dirt is filled about the base to the
depth of a foot or more. The natural base of the plant should be exposed
so far as possible, not only for protection of the tree, but because the
base of a tree trunk is one of its most distinctive features. Oaks,
maples, and in fact most trees will lose their bark near the crown if
the dirt is piled against them; and this is especially true if the water
tends to settle about the trunks. Figure 65 shows how this difficulty
may be obviated. A well is stoned up, allowing a space of a foot or two
on all sides, and tile drains are laid about the base of the well, as
shown in the diagram at the right. A grating to cover a well is also
shown. It is often possible to make a sloping bank just above the tree,
and to allow the ground to fall away from the roots on the lower side,
so that there is no well or hole; but this is practicable only when the
land below, the tree is considerably lower than that above it.
If much of the surface is to be removed, the good top earth should be
saved, and placed back on the area, in which to sow the grass seed and
to make the plantings. This top soil may be piled at one side out of the
way while the grading is proceeding.
Walks and drives.
So far as the picture in the landscape is concerned, walks and drives
are blemishes. Since they are necessary, however, they must form a part
of the landscape design. They should be as few as possible, not only
because they interfere with the artistic composition, but also because
they are expensive to make and to maintain.
Most places have too many, rather than too few, walks and drives. Small
city areas rarely need a driveway entrance, not even to the back door.
The back yard in Fig. 39 illustrates this point. The distance from the
house to the street on the back is about ninety feet, yet there is no
driveway in the place. The coal and provisions are carried in; and,
although the deliverymen may complain at first, they very soon accept
the inevitable. It is not worth the while to maintain a drive in such a
place for the convenience of truckmen and grocers. Neither is it often
necessary to have a drive in the front yard if the house is within
seventy-five or one hundred feet of the street. When a drive is
necessary, it should enter, if possible, at the side of the residence,
and not make a circle in the front lawn. This remark may not apply to
areas of a half acre or more.
[Illustration: Fig. 66. Forms of front walks.]
The drives and walks should be direct. They should go where they appear
to go, and should be practically the shortest distances between the
points to be reached. Figure 66 illustrates some of the problems
connected with walks to the front door. A common type of walk is a,
and it is a nuisance. The time that one loses in going around the
cameo-set in the center would be sufficient, if conserved, to lengthen a
man's life by several months or a year. Such a device has no merit in
art or convenience. Walk b is better, but still is not ideal, inasmuch
as it makes too much of a right-angled curve, and the pedestrian desires
to cut across the corner. Such a walk, also, usually extends too far
beyond the corner of the house to make it appear to be direct. It has
the merit, however, of leaving the center of the lawn practically
untouched. The curve in walk d is ordinarily unnecessary unless the
ground is rolling. In small places, like this, it is better to have a
straight walk directly from the sidewalk to the house. In fact, this is
true in nearly all cases in which the lawn is not more than forty to
seventy-five feet deep. Plan c is also inexcusable. A straight walk
would answer every purpose better. Any walk that passes the house, and
returns to it, e, is inexcusable unless it is necessary to make a very
steep ascent. If most of the traveling is in one direction from the
house, a walk like f may be the most direct and efficient. It is known
as a direct curve, and is a compound of a concave and a convex curve.
It is essential that any service walk or drive, however long, should be
continuous in direction and design from end to end. Figure 67
illustrates a long drive that contradicts this principle.
[Illustration: Fig. 67. A patched-up drive, showing meaningless crooks.]
It is a series of meaningless curves. The reason for these curves is
the fact that the drive was extended from time to time as new houses
were added to the villa. The reader will easily perceive how all the
kinks might be taken out of this drive and one direct and bold curve be
substituted.
The question of drainage, curbing, and gutters.
Thorough drainage, natural or artificial, is essential to hard and
permanent walks and drives. This point is too often neglected. On the
draining and grading of residence streets a well-known landscape
gardener, O.C. Simonds, writes as follows in "Park and Cemetery ":
[Illustration: Fig. 68. Treatment of walk and drive in a suburban
region. There are no curbs.]
"The surface drainage is something that interests us whenever it rains
or when the snow melts. It has been customary to locate catch-basins for
receiving the surface water at street intersections. This arrangement
causes most of the surface water from both streets to run past the
crossings, making it necessary to depress the pavement, so that one must
step down and up in going from one side of a street to the other, or
else a passageway for the water must be made through the crossing. It
may be said that a step down to the pavement and up again to the
sidewalk at the street intersections is of no consequence, but it is
really more elegant and satisfactory to have the walk practically
continuous (Fig. 68). With the catch-basin at the corner, the stoppage
of the inlet, or a great fall of rain, sometimes covers the crossing
with water, so one must either wade or go out of his way. With
catch-basins placed in the center of the blocks, or, if the blocks are
long, at some distance from the crossing, the intersections can be kept
relatively high and dry. Roadways are generally made crowning in the
center so that water runs to the sides, but frequently the fall
lengthwise of the roadway is less than it should be. City engineers are
usually inclined to make the grade along the length of a street as
nearly level as possible. Authorities who have given the subject of
roads considerable study recommend a fall lengthwise of not less than
one foot in one hundred and twenty-five, nor more than six feet in one
hundred. Such grades are not always feasible, but a certain amount of
variation in level can usually be made in a residence street which will
make it much more pleasing in appearance, and have certain practical
advantages in keeping the street dry. The water is usually confined to
the edge of the pavement by curbing, which may rise anywhere from four
to fourteen inches above the surface. This causes all the water falling
on the roadway to seek the catch-basin and be wasted, excepting for its
use in flushing the sewer. If the curbing, which is really unnecessary
in most cases, were omitted, much of the surface water would soak into
the ground between the sidewalk and the pavement, doing much good to
trees, shrubs, and grass. The roots of the trees naturally extend as
far, or farther, than their branches, and for their good the ground
under the pavement and sidewalk should be supplied with a certain amount
of moisture.
[Illustration: VI. A tree that gives character to a place.]
"The arrangement made for the removal of surface water from the street
must also take care of the surplus water from adjacent lots, so there
is a practical advantage in having the level of the street lower than
that of the ground adjoining. The appearance of houses and home grounds
is also much better when they are higher than the street, and for this
reason it is usually desirable to keep the latter as low as possible and
give the underground pipes sufficient covering to protect them from
frost. Where the ground is high and the sewers very deep, the grades
should, of course, be determined with reference to surface conditions
only. It sometimes happens that this general arrangement of the grades
of home grounds, which is desirable on most accounts, causes water from
melting snow to flow over the sidewalk in the winter time, where it may
freeze and be dangerous to pedestrians. A slight depression of the lot
away from the sidewalk and then an ascent toward the house would usually
remedy this difficulty, and also make the house appear higher.
Sometimes, however, a pipe should be placed underneath the sidewalk to
allow water to reach the street from inside of the lot line. The aim in
surface drainage should always be to keep the traveled portions of the
street in the most perfect condition for use. The quick removal of
surplus water from sidewalks, crossings, and roadways will help insure
this result."
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