HORTICULTURE. 



287 



sirable to have the walks at all times dry, we shall first 

 make some remarks on the formation of such walks in 

 general, and shall then consider some of the principal 

 constituent parts of the garden more in detail. 



Garden Walk*. 



449. Formerly grass walks were common in gar- 

 dens ; but the inconveniences attending them, espe- 

 cially dampness, and liability to wear bare in the middle, 

 have canted them to be in a great measure relinquish- 

 ed i uul thry are now to be seen only in a few old gar- 

 dens. Walks, at the present day, are principally mule 

 with gravel. If gravel walks be properly formed at 

 first, much future labour is saved. If judged necessary, 

 a drain should be made to pass below them ; but at all 

 events a quantity of lime-rubbish or very coarse gravel 

 should form the foundation. In the flower-garden it is 

 not necessary to have a fine permeable bottom of earth, 

 such as is proper under gravel-walks next to fruit-tree 

 borders. Lime-rubbish prevents the lodging of earth 

 worms, which are so apt to disfigure walks, and also 

 tends to drain the walks and keep them dry. Over 

 the rubbish is laid screened gravel. In some places 

 grnfU from the sea-shore is used; but this does not 

 bind without the addition of a little clayey matter. 

 Good gravel may often be got from some inland pit, 

 where there is naturally a slight mixture of clay. The 

 gravel pits of Kensington and of Blackheath have long 

 been celebrated. If gravel be liberally laid on at first, 

 the face of the walk may afterwards be more easily re- 

 freshed, by turning over the surface gravel, and then 

 using the rollt-r. 



If the walk be five or six feet broad, it should rise 

 about an inch and a half in the centre. It is often made 

 to rise considerably more; but the appearance is thereby 

 impaired, and the walker is annoyed. If the walk be of 

 large oxnienssons, ttie height in the cieuUe may increase 

 in proportion : so that in ten feat of breadth, a rise of 

 two or three inches is quite allowable. The walks of the 

 /lower garden should scarcely be less than five or six feet 

 wide ; nor can there hi general be any good reason for 

 their exceeding eight' feet. Thry shoold be two or 

 three inches lower in level than the flower-borders, 

 otherwise these last would look flat and mean. 



The rollers ased for levelling and smoothing the 



walks, are formed sometisnea of wood, somethnos of 



the largest and beat are of ca iron. Rolling 



readily at that time. 



400. In many places' only the principal walks are 

 covered with gravel ; all the subordinate one*, and the 



with - ,11.1. Gravel walks are much injured by 

 the drip of trees in rainy weather, and are not easily 

 repaired ; while sand walks require only to have their 

 rarface stirred with a Dutch hoe, and to be raked 

 n. It is, however, of importance to have 

 i of ver coarse gravel, broken field atones, 

 w the and. Saad from an inland 



pit, having naia-iiulj a tendency to bind, is preferable 

 to pure sea or river sand. In places near the sea, and 



where banks of shells occur on the bngh. 

 when broken wfll be found to form a T*TT neat walk, 

 also susceptible of binding to a certain degree. The 

 ^^hr of the binding quality is manifold ; it gives the 

 walk a neat appearance ; it renders it more pleasant for 

 walking on : and it permits of sweeping, without de- 

 the .irtV<-. 



46 J. If the flower garden is to consist of parterres 

 separated by grass-turf, the first formation of these 

 little lawns requires particular attention. When the 

 ground is delved over and levelled, n stratum of sand 

 or very poor sandy earth, perhaps three; inches thick, is 

 laid on, and over this an equal depth of good earth, on 

 which to sow the grass seeds. The use of the poor soil 

 below is to prevent the grass from getting rank. This 

 is particularly necessary where a mixture of rye-grass 

 and brome-grasses (particularly Bromus tquarrustis and 

 mulliflortu) is sown ; and all the grass seed, it may be 

 observed, sold in this country, consists of such a mix- 

 ture. Were only fescue grasses sown ( Fesltica durius- 

 cula and ovina), with perhaps crested dog's-tail ( Cyno- 

 sunn crittatut), there would be much less danger of 

 over-luxuriant patches appearing, while their fine wiry 

 leaves and slightly glaucous hue, would render the turf 

 highly beautiful. The selection of grasses for lawns is 

 too little attended to. The same kind of seed is sown 

 indiscriminately in exposed and in shady situations. If 

 white clover and rye-grass be sown under trees, it is 

 little wonder that the ground should remain bare : if 

 the seeds of Poa xemoralit were scattered in such situa- 

 tions, the bare spaces would soon be covered with a live* 

 ly green sward. A judicious little essay on the cm. 

 pjoyment of the gramina, and particularly of the spe- 

 cies last mentioned, presented to the Highland Society 

 by the late Mr George Don of Forfar, may be seen in 

 the third volume ot the Transactions of that Society, 

 p. 19, et teq. 



Soii. 



402. The toil of the flower-garden should of course Soil. 

 be various. For the general borders a loamy soil is 

 preterable. The surface earth from old pastures, taken 

 along with the turf, is accounted excellent. There 

 may be mixed with it a quantity of old hot-bed dung, 

 or other rotten manure ; a third or a fourth, according 

 as the earth is naturally rich or poor. If the compost 

 seem apt to bind, a unsll proportion of sea-sand is the 

 remedy. If a poor soil be wished for, which at the 

 same time is open, then half-rotten tan from the bark 

 stove is substituted for dung. 



It may here be remarked, that various compost* 

 " alwayi be in readiness, and others in a state of 

 i and for this purpose a convenient spot, 

 hid from view as possible, but near to the 

 garden, should be set apart as a compost yard. 



Peat*oU is very useful in the flower-garden. It is of 

 two sorts, boggy peat, and sandy or surface peat ; the for. 

 mer adapted only to the larger and more hardy kinds of 

 American plants ; the latter, to other American plants, 

 to alpine plants, to Cape heaths, and to many green' 

 house plants. The best sort of peat-turf is frequently 

 to be found constituting a mere skin over a bed of 

 sand. The turf or sou should be taken with what 

 peat-soil adheres to it, and should be allowed to moul- 

 der in the compost yard. Spots where wild heath 

 grows luxuriantly, or where it closely covers the sur- 

 face, sre likely to afford excellent light or sandy peat. 

 It may be added, that at the points where mountain 

 rivulets enter the flat country, accumulations of peat 

 earth and sand may often be found, the peat being 

 freed, by the washing of the rivulet, from the chief 

 part of the salts and other principles likely to prove 

 hurtful to vegetation. A mixture of nearly equal 

 parts of peat sil and loam is suitable for very roan/ 

 kinds of plants. For the succulent tribe Miller rccom- 



