522 THE GARDENER. [Nov. 



faction so many find in the culture of plants and flowers. We are 

 indebted to Messrs Barr & Sugden, Covent Garden, for the oppor 

 tunity of figuring these excellent contrivances. 



GARDEN-WALKS. 



For real comfort no garden is complete without good walks ; but what consti- 

 tutes a good walk is not so well understood. Well, then, a good walk should be 

 firm, smooth, dry, and of an agreeable colour. To make a dry walk many people 

 go to a vast amount of trouble, especially in draining, making foundations, &c. 

 This is all time and material thrown away, for if we only look to the asphalt we 

 find that a very small quantity of material, properly applied, will make a firm and 

 smooth pathway. Of course the general drainage is indispensable ; but if that 

 be usually dry there is no further need, as is practised by some, for a drain under 

 each walk. The fact is, the whole secret of a perfectly dry walk is not a dry 

 foundation, but it is an impervious surface, which will enable you to get rid of 

 the water at the sides, and without it percolating into the walk at all. Hence all 

 walks and roads should be waterproof, and when they are so, a comparatively 

 small portion of material only will be necessary to form them. Xothing is more 

 common in going into a garden in course of formation than to find the walks 

 excavated to the depth of 1 foot at the least, with a drain at the bottom. This 

 will be filled with stone, broken to various sizes, and finally be surfaced with a 

 3 or 4 inch layer of finely-sifted gravel. If all this material has to be purchased, 

 broken, and put in its place, the cost per yard is something considerable ; and at 

 the last you have not a dry walk nor a firm one, for the rain sinks into it, and 

 when the frost breaks the surface, gravel is just so much mud. To remedy this 

 we have for many years past abandoned that system of walk-making altogether ; 

 and now we can not only produce a good path, but a cheap one at the same time. 

 Given the plot upon which you intend to form the walk or walks ; first put in 

 your levels, that each shall fall gradually to a given point, and then, placing your 

 line, dig the ground over one spade deep, level it perfectly from end to end, and 

 make it as firm as possible, not only by treading it with the feet, but also by 

 ramming it with a cast-iron rammer. When the first edging is done and made 

 as smooth and level as a billiard-table, take a straight-edge, and with a plumb- 

 bob or spirit-level, level across to the other side of the walk, and then proceed 

 to make it up in the same manner. The lining out of the walks, especially if 

 they are curved, is a matter of great nicety, and one upon which the beauty of a 

 walk in a great measure depends. Hence the curves must be perfectly easy and 

 regular, and the two sides of a walk must correspond to the greatest nicety. 

 This accomplished, proceed to lay down the verge or edging j and, be it turf, or 

 box, or tile, the same nicety must be observed in making the two sides uniform 

 and perfectly level. The excavation need not be more than 4 inches deep, round- 

 ing up, if the walk is 6 feet wide, 1 inch from the sides to the centre. Make 

 the bottom quite firm and even, and then it will be ready to receive the material 

 of the walk. The best is stone broken to the size of a walnut ; but when that is 

 expensive or difficult to procure, clinkers from the furnace, brickbats, cinders, 

 or any hard material may be substituted, or all may be mixed together. Of 

 course it is important that the material be broken to a regular size, and that it 

 be free from soft dirt. Sufficient rough material being provided, select a firm 



