254 Horticultural Implements, Appliances, etc. 



offending the eye if one or two should fall a little out of place here 

 and there. But this is nearly impossible ; for at the place where 

 every two sticks cross each other they are tied by a little bit of 

 common wire. They should be so plunged in the walk, or by the 

 side of the walk, that about seven inches of the little fence appears 

 above ground. This, however, may be varied with the size of the 

 subjects which they are used to encompass j six or seven inches is 

 the height given for edges for ordinary purposes. They are equally 

 useful for the park, pleasure-ground, or even the kitchen-garden. 

 In parks and pleasure-grounds, however, we usually have edgings 

 of grass, and therefore it may occur to the reader that they are 

 useless therein ; but the little fences of bent wood which furnished 

 the idea for these iron edgings were generally used to prevent grass 

 near much-frequented spots from being trodden upon; and of 

 course those now recommended will answer the purpose better. 

 But it is in much-frequented places along drives, and in public gar- 

 dens and parks, that their chief merit will be found. They may be 

 seen in every public garden in Paris, from the little squares near 

 the Louvre where you may notice them obscurely running along 

 outside of the ivy edgings, to the slopes of the Buttes Chaumont 

 and the more frequented parts of the Bois de Boulogne, and they 

 must ere long be as widely adopted in England, for it is impossible 

 to find a better or more presentable edging. 



WATERING IN PARISIAN PARKS, GARDENS, &c. The French 

 system of watering gardens, &c v is excellent, or at least the gene- 

 rally adopted system ; for at the Jardin des Plantes there are yet 

 watering-pots made of thick copper, which are worthy of the days 

 of Tubal Cain, but a disgrace to any more recent manufacturer, and 

 a curse to the poor men who have to water with them. Gene- 

 rally Parisian lawns and gardens are watered every evening with the 

 hose, and most effectively. It is so perfectly and thoroughly done, 

 that they move trees in the middle of summer with impunity; keep 

 the grass in the driest and dustiest parts of Paris as green as an 

 emerald, the softest and thirstiest of bedding plants in the healthiest 



