THE FLOWER GARDEN. 91 



the line : third, you with a smooth spade cut and pat a sloping 

 banlv, of which the line mark is 'the top ; against this sloping 

 bank you place the box, with its square top haK an inch above 

 the line mark, and push the loose stuff up against it, to hold 

 it there, and continue it till finished ; you may then put the 

 rest of the stuff close up to a level of the linfe, and it- is ready 

 for the gravel outside. So much for the straight line : when 

 any figTires are to be done, the bank must be made in the 

 same way, but you must find other modes of marking it. 

 Tlie next best edging, to our fancy, is Arahis alba, — very hke 

 white alyssum ; the only difference is, that as this should be 

 planted two or three inches apart, when you have made the 

 line as for box, dibble the single plants of arabis in with an 

 iron-shod dibble. Gentiana, thrift, daisies, perennial candy- 

 tuft, are all used ; but we like the arabis best, because it 

 blooms white, and with abundance of flowers, from February 

 to the beginning of May. If planted in the autumn, it "«aLl 

 be three or four inches wide by blooming-time, and its glaucous 

 leaves are lively all the winter. It should be replanted every 

 second year, or it gets too wide. We have more than once or 

 twice, in various papers, strongly recommended the glass- 

 bottle-makers to get up an edging of the same coarse glass 

 that wine bottles are made of ; but hitherto without effect, 

 although we pubhshed simple patterns, that they might get 

 moulds for easily. It would be far better for the flowers than 

 even a box edging would be, for it would not harbour the 

 slugs, snails, and other vermin, as box, and indeed everything 

 else does, where there is any place to conceal them. Vitrified 

 ware, nearly the form of bricks, have been used with advan- 

 tage ; but they are unsightly, and, not being mechanically 

 true, they cannot be set in a correct line, nor worked with 

 certainty to any given figiu-e. 



THE FLO WEE GAEDEK 



Geometrical or Dutch gardens are very beautiful, when 

 made in appropriate places, and upon good principles ; but 

 the diversity of form is endless, and there is hardly a prettier 

 feature in a garden establishment, if it be well managed. 

 They ought to be formed wdth gravel walks and beds, and the 

 designs should be very different to those flower-gardens which 

 are formed by cutting particular figures in grass, though both 



