"COPINGS. 



121 



COPINGS. 



fine loam, peat, and leaf mould, especially 

 for cuttings. The name is applied some- 

 what indiscriminately to climbers generally 

 with bell-shaped or funnel-shaped flowers, 

 thus the climber and well-known annual, 

 Iponiea purpurea, is usually called Con- 

 volvulus major, and Morning Glory, and 

 Calystegia pubescens with its pink double 

 blooms, and others of like character are 

 frequently spoken of as convolvuluses. A 

 true convolvulus, however, is found in 

 Convolvulus tricolor, the Convolvulus 

 minor of the garden, noticeable for its blue, 

 white, and yellow blooms. 



Copings for Walls Copings of 

 Stone, &c. 



Coping to garden walls has been a 

 "much vexed'' question, and probably 

 many practical men retain their own 



to the top of the wall. Another coping 

 may be formed of roofing tiles, or even of 

 slates, as shown in Fig. 2, when stones 



FIG. I. FLAT STONE COPING ON WALL. 



system, without paying much attention 

 to theories ; for, in gardening, a common- 

 sense application of the means at hand, 

 and taking everything at the right time, 

 is of more importance than the best-formed 

 theory imperfectly carried out. It seems 

 very well settled, however, that a stone 

 coping, projecting an inch or two over 

 the wall on each side, as in Fig. I, is 

 necessary for the protection of the wall 

 from the effects of rain, and that, to that 

 extent, the coping is useful in retarding 

 the radiation of heat. Such a coping is 

 formed of flat stones, cemented at the 

 edges to prevent any access of moisture 



KIG. 2. COl'ING OF TILES. 



cannot be readily procured. Copings are 

 generally recommended as improving the 

 appearance of the wall, and as being 

 necessary for protecting it from the 

 weather. A coping of slate flags, two 

 inches thick, bevelled off to three-fourths 

 of an inch at the edges on each side, as in 

 Fig. 3, is one of the simplest and most 

 efficient, and is easily obtained in any 

 part of the country where slates are 

 quarried. The projections of the coping 

 greatly enhance the conservative power of 

 the walls. The practice of fitting wire or 

 wood trellis on the face of the wall is con- 

 demned by many practical men as inter- 

 fering with this conservative power, for a 



KIG. 3. COPING OF BEVELLED SLATES. 



space intervenes betwixt the trees and the 

 wall, where the heated air escapes at the 

 small angle of divergence, in consequence 

 of the greater lightness of the air, caused 

 by rarefaction, while the constant flowing 



