EDGING. 



156 



EDGING TOOLS. 



soil. The varieties are all hardy annuals 

 or biennials. One of the best known of the 

 latter is Echinops Banaticus^ with blue 

 flowers, which attains a height of 3 feet. 



Edelweiss (nat. ord. Compos'itse). 



A hardy woolly perennial herb growing 

 on the Alps. It will grow in this country 

 on rock-work and in well-drained pots in 

 sandy soil well pressed together. It is pro- 

 pagated from seeds or by division of old 

 plants. Its scientific name is Leontopodium 

 Alpimim. 



Edging. . 



Sometimes gardens are laid down on a 

 mixed plan of grass and gravel. When 

 each bed is edged with brick, stone, tile, or 

 cement, these edgings are occasionally 

 surrounded with from 2 to 4 feet of 

 gravel, succeeded by the same or a greater 

 width of turf. Beds on grass, however, 

 unless much elevated above the surface, are 

 most effective without any edgings what- 

 ever ; although, in certain situations, raised 

 beds, with massive edgings of stone or 

 rustic-work, look well. For beds on gravel, 

 an edging of some kind becomes impera- 

 tive. Of all living edgings box is the 

 best ; thrift, sedums,and saxifrages of various 

 kinds, especially Saxifraga hypnoides, fol- 

 low each other in value and adaptability 

 for this purpose. There is, however, one 

 thing against all edgings of this description, 

 and that is, that they afford a harbour for 

 slugs, snails, &c. Ornamental stone, tile, 

 brick, or cast-iron edgings, are probably 

 better than any living edging whatever. 

 These can neither afford a lodgment for 

 insects, exhaust the soil, nor look patchy 

 through dying off; and although perhaps 

 more expensive in the first instance, the 

 first expense is the only one. They can be 

 purchased on very reasonable terms, and of 

 varied and elegant designs. Whatever 

 edgings are used, they must vary in height 

 and thickness with the size of the beds they 



define. Nothing can be in worse taste 

 than a heavy massive edging surrounding 

 a small delicate pattern, or vice tersA. 



Ornamental wirework often makes a very 

 effective edging for different beds. A useful 

 edging is sometimes made of thin boarding, 

 say about \ inch in thickness, and from 3 

 to 4^ inches wide. Bricks, set with one 

 corner upwards, and laid one on the other, 

 along the edge of the border, make a strong 

 and useful edging, and the same may be 

 said of stakes, disposed in an X f rm r 

 threaded on wires in an upright position, 

 every alternate length being I inch shorter 

 than those on either side of it. In the last- 

 named form of edging a long stake should 

 be threaded on at intervals of from 3 to 6 

 feet to keep the edging in place. This kind 

 of edging adapts itself with great facility to 

 beds with curved outlines. 



Edging Plants. 



There are many plants adapted for garden 

 edgings. Among these may be enumerated 

 Buxus sempervireus, better known as box, 

 thrift, cuttings of Iberis saxatilis, daisies, 

 both white and red, the variegated alyssum, 

 feather-grass, &c., &c., and any others 

 named in the preceding remarks on Edging. 



Edging Tools. 



Lawns and beds cannot be kept in good 

 order without the frequent use of edging- 

 irons, otherwise known as turf rasers or 

 verge cutters, and edging-shears. The 

 latter, as its name implies, is used foi 

 shearing off the long grass which grows on 

 the edges of turf. A turf raser or verge 

 cutter is an instrument that is used for cut- 

 ting the edge of turf to be taken up in rolls 

 from grass land for the purpose of laying 

 down on lawns, or for cutting the edges of 

 lawns already laid, turf verges, beds, &c. 

 The simplest form of raser is shown in Fig. 

 I. In this, a stick or handle, bent at the 

 end, so that the horizontal part may rest 



