78 GARDENS IN THE MAKING 



Purbeck, York, and other stones used for paving 

 lend themselves admirably to this method. In lay- 

 ing the stones, the courses may be irregular and 

 varying in thickness, but the bed of the stones 

 should be level ; random work with varying angles 

 is too disquieting to be satisfactory, and it will be 

 found well worth the trouble roughly to square all 

 large stones before setting them in the wall. At all 

 costs avoid the artificially rough face with tooled 

 edges which, fitting though it may be in the rusti- 

 cated masonry of a large building, is quite out of 

 place in its modern degraded form in a garden 

 wall. 



When the wall is to be of brick, care should be 

 exercised in the choice of colour. The bright tints 

 of the flowers and the fresh green of the opening 

 yew will quarrel with the majority of ordinary red 

 facing bricks. It is much safer to use a dark or 

 brindled stock, for it acquires a neutral tint that 

 harmonises with the natural colouring. Dutch 

 bricks form a pleasant variation and are good in 

 scale and colour, while many successful combinations 

 of brick and stone or brick and tile may be made, 

 according to locality and circumstances. If old 



