■2^3, Horticultural Implements, Appliances, etc. 



even stools of asparagus in spring, I have no doubt they will be 

 much in demand. Having spoken of the most particular and im- 

 portant use of this article in connexion with salad culture, no more 

 need be said of it here. 



Edgings fok Parks, Public Gardens, Drives, &c. — The 

 edgings in gardens have a very important bearing on their 

 general aspect, and often on their cleanliness. Hosts of people 

 with gardens are continually lopking out for a good edging, and 

 many are taken in by the aspect of those made of tiles, &c. 

 Any variety of brick, imitation stone, or terra-cotta edging, is 

 the ugliest and most unsatisfactory thing that can be admitted into 

 an ornamental garden. Massive edgings of stone around panels, 

 &c., in geometrical gardens are of course not included in the 

 pottery ones now alluded to. These last are enough to spoil the. 

 prettiest garden ever made, and are as much at home round a 

 country seat as a red Indian at a mild evening party. Look at 

 them as they are carefully arranged by the exhibitors in one or two 

 of our public gardens, and possibly you may think they are clean, 

 symmetrical, and the very thing desired. When brought home 

 and arranged around the borders their true charms begin to display 

 themselves. Being "of a geometrical turn," if I maybe allowed so 

 to describe them, they must be arranged so as to look quite straight 

 in the line. If they wabble about, one this way and one that, they 

 "don't look nice," even granting that the things themselves are 

 tolerable. Now it is nearly impossible to "set" them easily and 

 cheaply, so that they will remain erect. To have them set by a 

 mason may be resorted to by some ; but it is simply a way of 

 wasting money. Of course, a good workman may set them neatly 

 enough by ramming down the soil firm on each side j but, even if 

 perfectly well arranged, they are, after all, the worst variety of 

 edging known. Then, again, they are often of a texture that 

 cracks into small pieces with the first frost, though there are some 

 much more tenacious. The expense in the first instance is a good 

 deal, and one way or another they become unsatisfactory, till there 



