120 FORMATION OF GARDENS. 



best general rule that can be laid down is to make the breadth 

 of the borders equal to the height of the wall or boundary fence, 

 whatever it may be ; they may be made broader, but not nar- 

 rower, for then they produce a bad effect; a narrow border 

 beside a high fence is very displeasing to the eye. 



The size and number of the compartments are determined by 

 the number and disposition of the walks. It is decidedly a bad 

 plan to have too many walks, as the ground is not only taken 

 up with them, which require a deal of labor to keep them clean, 

 but the effect of the garden is lessened. If less than two acres 

 be enclosed, a walk running parallel with the boundary, say 

 twelve feet distant from it, and another intersecting the garden 

 in the middle, running south and north, will be sufficient ; if 

 more than two acres be enclosed, another intersecting walk, run- 

 ning east and west, may be introduced. If the garden be 

 worked by horse labor, the larger the compartments the better ; 

 if wrought entirely by manual labor, these compartments may 

 be sub-divided for the crops, by rows of fruit-trees, or fruit- 

 bushes, as may be required. It should be observed, that to 

 have a few walks, and those of good width, gives the garden a 

 better appearance, and is in every way preferable to having a 

 large number of contracted ones, and it leaves the compartments 

 to be sub-divided by alleys or other means, as may be most con- 

 venient for access to the crops. 



In many gardens, trellises or espalier rails are adopted. The 

 proper place for an espalier rail trellis is on the inside of the 

 principal walks, leaving a border of at least six feet. Many 

 gardeners condemn them, arid perhaps justly, in small gardens, 

 as it confines the ground too much ; but in large gardens, espa- 

 liers, if well managed, are both useful and ornamental. The 

 railing should be plain and neat, not more than five or six feet 

 high, with the upright rails, to which the trees are tied, about 

 eight inches apart. 



It is not our purpose, at present, to dwell on the laying out 

 of gardens. We have merely adverted to the subject, in so far 

 as it is connected with the object of this treatise. 



