190 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



circle. Tread, ram, and roll the earth, do-wn solidly ; 

 sprinkle with coal-ashes, gravel, humt earth, or 

 •other non-adhesive, if available ; and such raised 

 gangway will afford a, cleanly passage to and 

 iro for years. In any case, walks in kitchen or 

 fruit gardens' need not be made so deep as in the 

 flower garden or pleasure-grounds. On most soils 

 a depth of from four to six inches would prove 

 sufficient, and if placed, as tiiey often are, within 

 iSiK feet or so of walls clothed with fruit-trees, the 

 fruit border may be continued under the walk, and 

 the walk made or laid carefully over ',t. This may 

 seem difficult on paper, but it is simple enough in 

 practice, and answers well; the roots, as already 

 .stated, crowding under the walk more thickly than 

 in the borders specially devoted to them. But this 

 is treading on cultural grounds, though hardly out oi 

 place here, as in the garden structural and cultural 

 matters are constantly running into or overlapping 

 one another. 



MAINTENANCE OF BOADS AND WALKS. 

 Never was the adage " A stitch in time saves nine " 

 — or nine hundred for that matter — more literal!}'- 

 true than in regard to the keeping of roads and walks 

 in cre,ditable condition. On roads especially, the first 

 rut, if ever so small, should be at once filled up. If 

 not, each rut helps every passing foot or wheel to dig 

 it out deeper and yet deeper. This must be so ob- 

 vious to all as to need no further insistance upon or 

 illustration, and yet practically few responsible for 

 the maintenance of roads act as if it were true. 

 They are seldom repaired before they are virtually 

 ruined, and hence road-repairs are perhaps the most 

 unsatisfactoiy of all the many reckless investments 

 that abound in this age of daring ventures and more 

 haste than prudence. The proverbial folly of locking 

 the stable after the horse is stolen is wisdom itself 

 compared to the folly of deferring road-repairs tiU 

 too late. In the one case only one horse is lost ; but 

 here road, labour, horse-power, harness, time, and 

 money are all thrown into a veritable bog or road 

 without a bottom, and neither profit, pleasure, nor 

 wisdom seems to follow in the wake of aU these 



Prompt repairs with the very best materials, is the 

 secret of the maintenance of roads in good condition. 

 Any compound of abominable rubbish is often ac- 

 counted good enough for the repair of roads. They 

 may or may not have been well made ; but here is a 

 hole, and builders' rubbish, stone, flint, or half a brick, 

 or a load of these, is hurled headlong into it. Such 

 recklessness is not only foolish, it is almost criminal, 

 inasmuch as it not only destroys property, but en- 

 dangers life. It is hardly too much to affirm that 



nina4enths of road accidents arise from the imper- 

 fect construction and faulty repairs of roads. The 

 majority of farm roads are in the most disgraceful 

 state, in regard to both. But not a few gardens, and 

 even carriage and public roads, are very far from 

 what they ought to be, alike in construction and 

 repair. 



A very little good granite or other hard stone "or 

 gravel, applied in the right time, place, and man- 

 ner, proves far more effective than tons upon tons 

 misapplied. Besides, very often little or no new 

 material is needed. The traffic has caused a mis- 

 placement only, and all that is needful is to place 

 the road material back from whence it came, and 

 ram or roll it down. 



"Weeds. — Weeds left to themselves are wellnigh 

 as destructive to roads and walks as ruts or other 

 destructive agents or causes. The roots loosen and 

 disintegrate the hard materials, and the decomposi- 

 tion of roots and tops alike gradually transforms 

 these into mould, or covers them with a debris that 

 is still more favourable to the development of yet 

 more weeds. Besides, weeds mar the beauty of 

 roads, and though they may not greatly hinder 

 locomotion, they spoil the pleasure either of riding 

 or of walking upon them. Prompt suppression or 

 eradication, therefore, becomes a matter of the 

 highest importance. 



Good making with cleanly and hard materials 

 prevents the growth of weeds, while prevention is 

 not only much better but infinitely cheaper than 

 cure. Asphalt and concrete roads have this great 

 advantage over those formed of stone and gravel — 

 they are weedless. But on aU other roads and walks 

 the pest of weeds must be met and mastered as best 

 it may. Frequent hoeings and scarifyings are the 

 most frequent means employed to keep down weeds ; 

 but they have several Serious drawbacks. They des- 

 troy the hardness and smoothness of the surface for 

 the time being, and the loose granite forms a capital 

 seed-bed for the seed of weeds, with which the air is 

 fully stocked. Both these evils may be partially 

 neutralised by heavy rollings. 



But on the best roads and walks these methods of 

 eradicating weeds are rendered impracticable fi-om 

 the hardness of their surface — hence, partially, 

 and also on the ground of economy, the practices of 

 pickling, poisoning, and scalding the weeds of the 

 surface of roads and walks. All these processes have 

 the immense advantage of not breaking up the 

 surface ; they involve little labour, and act almost at 

 once. 



Perhaps pickling the weeds to death with dry salt 

 is really one of the simplest and most efficient of all 

 these methods. The salt should first be run through 



