It is a common practice with some gardeners to hoe and rake gravel walks, whether they require it for the sake of eradicating the weeds or not. They think it gives a fresh appearance, and is a mark of care and keeping. This is proceeding on the same false taste which directs the digging and hoeing of clumps and beds, and the constant paring of edges. The gravel of a walk or road should, if possible, never be disturbed; because doing so not only interferes with its usefulness, that is, its smoothness and dryness as a walk, but conveys the idea of its being lately made, and consequently unsettled, and without that mellowness and air of perfection which time gives to almost every thing. When walks, therefore, are disturbed by the hoe and rake, they ought immediately to be smoothly rolled, so as to convey the idea of finish, stability, and perfection. Every practice in gardening, from the most trifling to the most extensive, is capable of being tested by some general principle, applicable to every art; and every gardener who intends to place himself in the first rank of his profession should, by reading and reflection, endeavour to make himself master of these principles and of their application. Those who have not leisure to master the principles may, at all events, comprehend the rules derived from them. Rules are practical directions for the application of principles; and though they cannot be laid down in such a way as to apply to every case, yet general precepts may be given, and the gardener who follows them, even though he may not be able to argue upon the principles from which they are derived, will move in a much safer course than one who has no rules to guide him, and who merely does what he sees others do, without knowing the reason why. The following rules may be derived from the principles we have just laid down;-
