How to Make a Formal Garden at a Moderate Cost 247 



" St. George in box, his arm scarce long enough, but will be in condition to 

 stick the dragon by next April ; a green dragon of the same, with a tail of 

 ground ivy for the present; an old Maid of Honour in wormwood." 



Neither should there be attempted in the flower gardens of small home 

 grounds a pattern in walks and beds so complicated that it cannot be traced 

 by the eye, unless all flowers are omitted from the beds. The very 

 crooked walks and beds of such designs are difficult to care for. 



In determining the location, the relative size of beds, walks, and other 

 features, it is the harmony of good proportion and fitness which gives artistic 

 merit to a good design. Good proportion comes largely from intuition; 

 fitness grows out of knowledge and good sense. 



In making the design for beds, bear in mind that it is difficult to cultivate 

 from one walk a bed more than four feet wide, or one more than eight feet wide 

 between two walks. If beds are to be wider, narrow walks through the 

 center will be needed. It is hardly necessary to say that beds should be most 

 thoroughly prepared, if the most luxuriant growth, best health and greatest 

 abundance of flowers are to be secured; and as this garden represents a 

 comparatively small part of the lot, such preparation can usually be afforded. 

 Use two feet of good and well-enriched garden soil, with tile drains a foot 

 deeper under each bed, leading to a free outlet, especially in heavy soils. 

 If necessary, accept for the time being the soil as it is with a very thorough 

 spading, with the addition of a very large amount of well-decomposed manure, 

 and then approach the ideal treatment as rapidly as possible. 



The width of a walk is governed largely by usage. If a horse and cart 

 are to be used, a walk should be from six to eight feet wide ; a wheelbarrow will 

 require a walk three feet wide ; if two persons are to walk abreast comfortably, 

 the walk should be four or five feet wide ; narrow walks in the center of beds 

 should be from one and one-half to two feet wide. \'\'alks made of a perma- 

 nent material require less care and are more comfortable to use at all times. 

 A first-rate material is good red brick, laid on a six- to ten-inch foundation 

 of loose gravel, cinders, or sand, with a low crown to shed water. Other 

 coloured brick will in some cases be as good or better. Slate flagging upon 

 the same foundation is good. Cement concrete is neat and clean, and durable 

 if well laid, but the colour is not as good as brick. Tar concrete and asphalt 

 blocks are an abomination in colour. Thm sheets of sandstone, limestone, 

 or other flat -surfaced rocks of irregular outline, make serviceable and pictur- 

 esque stepping-stone walks when joints are made close enough to prevent 



