258 



JOUENAL OF HOBTICULTUEE AND COTTAGE GAEDENEE. 



[ October 8, iefi7. 



necessarily be naked where no low vegetation exists. The ma- 

 terials for this purpose are numerous enough, embracing a 

 wide variety of substances— stone of every kind, dressed and 

 rough ; the refuse lumps from the iron and glass furnaces, as 

 well as sometimes prepared materials from thence ; slate slabs, 

 wooden boardings, composite edgings of all kinds, and an in- 

 finite variety of earthenware ones, all more or less pretty or 

 available, as well as innumerable substitutes of local occurrence, 

 and which for the most part being only to be had in the parti- 

 cular district, little can be said of them. 



In some of the mining districts, where quartz, or spar as it is 

 often called, exists in quantity, it is not unusual to imbed or 

 partly fix in the ground a line of these pieces as nearly of one 

 size as they can be obtained, and the brightness they present 

 in Eunshine obtains for them a great many admirers. Pebbles 

 from the seashore, or from the bed of a river, are used in the 

 same way, and the same may be said of flints where the latter 

 are to be found. lu fact, fiiuts have been employed for another 

 purpose of a somewhat similar kind, for the names of railway 

 stations are sometimes delineated on suitable banks with this 

 material, painted and kept white. In the garden, or for the 

 edgings of walks, colouring flints white is unnecessary, as too 

 much glare is offensive. Clinkers of certain kinds are also used, 

 but more generally where glass or some metallic substance 

 enters into their composition ; in the latter case they are often 

 worked into fancy rockeries. Other materials of a like kind are 

 also occasionally met with, and now and then boarding, rough 

 or planed, but from its liability to decay we seldom see it em- 

 ployed except to a limited extent, or for some special purpose. 

 1 now come to manufactured edgings, which are also nu- 

 merous. Amongst them I have met with some good examples 

 of iron and wire like basketwork, but these are best adapted 

 for places where there is vegetation, to partly conceal them, 

 and are not at all suitable for the edgings of a walk underneath 

 trees, or where there is much traffic. Stone kerbing is much 

 superior, and is of several forms ; but the plain round-edged, 

 some 3 inches in thickness, is about the best. I have also seen 

 the same kerb with a Hat top, the edges only very slightly 

 chamfered off. V\''hen this is buried flush with the ground, it 

 is, perhaps, the best shape of any, and if there is a great length 

 of it, a thicker kind may be adopted. The artificial stone kerbing 

 is often moulded into a variety of forms, but in places to which 

 the multitude are admitted plain patterns are best. There are, 

 however, some pretty designs in this way, and the same may be 

 said of earthenware ; the latter, however, is not so desirable on 

 account of its colour, but it is, nevertheless, often used, as it 

 has been more extensively manufactured than the artificial 

 stone, against which there seems to be some prejudice; not al- 

 ways well founded. In the earthenware class of edgings it would 

 be better to adhere only to simple forms, and avoid all pointed, 

 notched, and beaded tops, which are liable to breakage, or to 

 become so covered with dirt, that all the beauty which they 

 possess is destroyed. A plain, square, angular, or rounded edge 

 is infinitely better than any elaborate carving, and is that 

 which I recommend. 



One of the cheapest and most readily obtained edgings which 

 I have ever met with, is the common brick, laid in a slanting 

 position, so that its side and edge may each present an angle of 

 4.5° to the horizon, and as the greater part of the brick is under 

 the ground, or in it, it becomes very firm. Here we lay the 

 diagonal brick as on edging to all walks, where the conti- 

 nuance of a live edging is uncertain, and even in places where 

 an edging will grow, we not unusually employ the brick also, as 

 most plants laid down by the inner side of it grow freely 

 enough. In fact, I often have it by the side of walks that 

 have a turf edging, the latter being kept correct to shape by 

 the edging of brick ; and the top or angle of the brick beirg no 

 higher than the tuiface of the turf, there is no impediment to 

 the mowing. Brick edgings on this plan may be laid by the 

 side of most walks, as their steadiness prevents their sulfcring 

 much, and the red glare of the brick (if it be that colour at first), 

 quickly softens down to the ordinary colour of the ground or 

 gravel. If properlv put down at first, such an edging rarely 

 becomes deranged, unless the ground settles, or where there are 

 Bome other mishaps, as the roots of a tree unpheavmg it. Ihese 

 cases, however, are not sufliciently numerous to constitute a 

 Berious objection, and I have every confidence in recommending 

 good, hard, well-burnt bricks for edgings, as being cheaper than 

 any other artificial substance. Perhaps, howevtr, where an 

 outhne for a walk through a much-frequented footpath is 

 wanted, a line of hard stone— say at least 6 inches in widtli 

 at top, laid flat, is about the best in the long run, as it often 



happens that the ground behind it is invaded, and the stone 

 edging, even where it is disregarded, is still a sort of outline, 

 and shows that the public, and not the original maker of the 

 path, are the parties at fault. It is, however, a much more 

 expensive material than bricks, which in most private places 

 will be found to serve all the purposes of an edging, and if care 

 be taken to select good, hard, well-burnt bricks, their durability 

 is scarcely less than that of stone. — J. Kousos. 



A SOMERSETSHIRE STILE. 

 ^As the merits of the Cornish stile have been discussed in the 

 last few numbers of your Journal, and according to your last 

 correspondent, " Cobnubiensis," in a manner not altogether 

 favourable to its adoption, I venture to call your attention to 

 an invention of my own, which I have had in use for nearly 

 two years, and which has been found to answer every purpose 

 for which a stile is required, even to a free passage of your 

 correspondent's " departed crinoline." 



/TV 



Fig. 1.. 



You will observe from the above engraving (fill. 1), that it is 

 very simple in construction, and entirely self-acting. It has no 

 fastening, as the cross-bar (a), after being lifted up for the 

 person to pass through, falls back to its place in a sht in the 

 post (h) by its own weight, so that it cannot be left open, a 

 great desideratum in stiles and gates of all kinds. 



ri 



Fig- 2. 



When the bar (a) is lifted up {see fin. 2), the pendant («•) turn- 

 ing on a pivot (.-) naturally rises with it, and runs up the bar (d), 

 to which it is fastened bv a ring at the bottom, thus leaving a 



