The Making of Beds and Borders 



exploded theory, and can be no longer maintained as re- 

 lating to any department of the garden. The famous scroll 

 beds are of yesterday. We admire therein the genius of 

 man saturated as it was with all the conceptions of an 

 ornamental education, but we cannot admire their ideas of 

 Nature in the imitation of which they were so sadly 

 lacking. Even to-day, when we gaze on carpet-bedding 

 in our parks, we fail to admire the beauty of the plants 

 themselves, for that is absorbed by the regularity of their 

 combination. This is as it should not be. 



The Practical Part of Formation. 



Having seen that the shape of the bed should be at once 

 graceful and useful, we turn to the question of formation 

 itself. If the soil is of good quality, and suited to the 

 necessities of its future occupants, it will need simply to 

 be dug over, and sufficient manure or other soil incorpor- 

 ated to raise it above the surrounding level ; but if it is 

 of a cold, damp, uncongenial nature, and in its very 

 essence unsuitable for flower culture, it should be taken 

 out to a depth of not less than eighteen inches, and, after 

 the bottom has been dug, filled up with good soil composed 

 of broken turf, half-decayed leaves, horse manure, and 

 plenty of gritty material. Some may urge that by thus 

 digging a hole we invite, as it were, the drainage water from 

 the surrounding land. With the depth of soil taken out 

 and that dug, amounting to quite two-and-a-half feet, there 

 should be no fear of such a quantity of water flowing in as 



to render the soil which will contain the roots so wet as will 

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