260 



JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 6, 1870. 



The incline should be to that side of the wall of the least im- 

 portance ; for instance, when a wall runs east and west the 

 coping should fall to the north, whilst if it runs north and 

 south the coping should incline to the west, it being presumed 

 that the east side is for Plums, Cherries, &c, and the west 

 for Pears. 



Some prefer the coping highest in the centre, with an incline 

 to each side. This I think quite unnecessary, a flat coping 

 with the needful incline being, in my opinion, preferable. If 

 anything, I would have the coping hollow in the centre, in- 

 clining from the sides to the middle, along which there might 

 be a groove falling to a certain point, from which the water 

 could be conveyed to the ground by a spout. This would do 

 away with drip from the wall altogether, and the expense not 

 being much more, I would strongly advise its adoption as the 

 best plan of all. 



Next to stone, Portland stone cement coping is desirable. It 

 closely resembles stone in appearance, is very durable, and, I 

 3m obliged to add, expensive. Slate forms a first-class coping, 

 but is very poor in appearance compared with either stone or 

 cement, and unless well secured is liable to get displaced. 

 Tiles made of fireclay answer admirably. They require to be 

 well burned, and if blue all the better. When they are red I 

 have not found them stand frost for any great length of time. 

 The blue colour, I believe, is given in glazing by the agency 

 of salt used in the burning. They are usually 2i inches 

 thick. Very thin or light copings of any kind have a mean 

 appearance. 



As regards other copings besides that formed on the wall it is 

 important to have one specially for the protection of the trees, 

 &r heat has a tendency to ascend, and if it be prevented 

 doing so it cannot pass away so rapidly. Another advantage 

 of what I shall term a tree coping is checking the downward 

 passage of cold air, for as it is the tendency of heated air to rise, 

 so is it of cold air to descend. In spring when frosts prevail 

 a coping is very valuable from keeping the blossom and young 

 fruit dry, in which state they are not so liable to injury from 

 frost. A third advantage of this kind of coping is, that in autumn 

 we may secure the trees having more heat and dryness than 

 where no provision of the kind is made, and not only make 

 certain of the full ripening of the fruit, but also of the wood 

 for another season fruiting. It may be said, If a coping of this 

 kind is necessary (I do not say that it is, but I consider it an 

 advantage), why not have it permanent? I consider that it 

 deprives the trees of the rains and dews when making their 

 growth and swelling their fruit, and that in winter it is wholly 

 unnecessary, the trees being all the better of its removal, for 

 nothing in my opinion is so destructive to insect life as frost 

 and rain. 



The sort of coping I would have is a moveable one that 

 could be put up one day and taken down the other. So far as 

 I have experience no material is better than wood. It is 

 lighter than many others, and when well painted lasts a long 

 time. An inch-deal 11 inches wide answers perfectly. This 

 width I think needful for Peaches, Apricots, Pears, and Plums, 

 as the latter two often have their spurs some distance from the 

 wall ; but I have known 9-inch boards employed with good effect. 

 They should be planed smooth and well painted. There is 

 some difficulty in fixing them so as to look well. There is 

 no question that brackets are best, but even these are very ugly 

 if left after the coping-boards are removed, hence the supports 

 of the coping-boards ought not to be fixtures, but, like that 

 they uphold, be removeable. 



This may be effected in a variety of ways, but a good method 

 is to fix to the face of the wall pieces of iron l! inch by half 

 an inch, and 13 inches in length, with a square hole at the top 

 l.J inch by three-quarters of an inch, and another of half an 

 inch, 9 inches from the top hole, with two holes for bolts to 

 drive into the wall. The plate will on the face have the ap- 

 pearance of a. The plate should be let into the under side of 

 the coping up to the top of the upper square hole, and before 

 driving in the bolts a space an inch longer, and the same size 

 in other respects as the upper hole, must be cut out of the face 

 of the wall li inch deep opposite to where the plate is to be 

 fixed. The distance apart ought not to exceed 6 feet. Wrought 

 iron is most suitable, and should be well secured by the bolts 

 above named. These plates are to remain permanently fixed 

 to the wall. 



The brackets are of cast iron, and though they are not dif- 

 ferent in pattern from tho3e for shelves, instead of screw- 

 holes, they have at the top a lug li inch long one way, and 

 1J inch the other, and a stud at the bottom which fits the 



lower square hole in the plate. The use of the lugs will be 

 seen on reference to B. 



To fix them, all we have to do is to put the top lug through 

 the top hole in the plate and let it drop ; it will hang by the 

 lag and cannot by any possibility fall out, and the bottom lug 

 drops in the lower square hole in the plate. The coping- 

 boards are then put on and will fit exactly beneath the coping; 



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having an incline outwards, the water will drop clear of the 

 trees. A screw will keep the board from being dislodged, a 

 hole being at the end of the bracket, that is within an inch of 

 the end. The whole can be taken down and put up at will, 

 has a neat appearance when np, and there is no ugly projecting 

 support when taken down. 



The time to use the coping-boards is in spring when the 

 blossom is approaching expansion, continuing them until 

 danger from spring frosts is past. They may be again used in 

 autumn when the fruit is ripening until the leaves fall, after 

 which they should be taken down. — G. Abbey. 



BEDDING GERANIUMS. 



As it is the fashion just now to report in your pages about 

 these favourites of the garden, I feel constrained to say a few 

 words about those which I have found answer best with me, 

 and those which I think most promising for the future. I will 

 begin with stating that the soil of my garden is a rich clay 

 loam of some depth, resting on a subsoil of cold blue clay of 

 a very unctuous character. I wish all persons in telling their 

 experience with Geraniums or other flowers, would also describe 

 the soil in which they grow them, otherwise their experience, 

 however carefully reported, is of little practical use to your 

 readers. 



I may also state that my garden aims to combine something 

 of the landscape as well as of the flower garden. There is as 

 little formality in it as possible, but every available nook or 

 projection in the shrubbery or the drive which leads np to the 

 house by a winding curve is made use of to assist the general 

 effect by a series of surprises, as it were, so that whichever 

 way you look there is something new and diverse from any- 

 thing else in the garden. I avoid as much as possible great 

 masses of flowers of the same kind, which, to my taste, ap- 

 pear vulgar and offensive. Also here and there, backing np 

 or dividing the beds, which are devoted specially to the display 

 of any particular kind of flower, are mixed borders, which 

 afford relief and lead on the eye to other beauties en petite 

 masse. My friends admire very much in my garden the use I 

 make of stumps, of which I have several surrounded with 

 borders, the general effect beiDg that of huge nosegays of vari- 

 ous Geraniums or other flowers of differing foliage and bloom, 

 so arranged as to bring out strong contrasts of colours. 



Owing to the kindness of a friend, who is well known in the 

 floricultural world, but who shall be nameless here for obvious 

 reasons which he will appreciate, I have been able to enjoy and 

 to test the value of a great number of Geraniums and other 

 flowers, which, but for his goodness, I should, perhaps, never 

 have possessed. Some of these I will now proceed to describe, 

 only let your readers bear in mind what I said regarding the 

 soil in which they are grown. In moist seasons they would, 

 doubtless, vary in their growth. As it is, they have not grown 

 at all rampantly, neither have they suffered from drought, as 

 my neighbours' plants on different and lighter soils have done. 



I begin with the Tricolors, which I admire exceedingly, and 

 to which I assign the palm of beauty over all Geraniums. I 

 have tried the following :— -Mrs. Pollock, Sophia Cusack, Lady 





