156 PR.A.CTICAL LANDSCAPE GARDENING 



SLATE 



Slate slabs, laid the same as the flagstones, are very pleasing in 

 color and are very ser\dceable. Slates may be had beautifully 

 mottled with brown and gray. 



TANBASK 



Tanbark walks have fallen into disuse, most likely on account 

 of the care and expense of upkeep. The color is good and the tex- 

 ture comfortable under foot. The sub-base for tanbark should be the 

 same as for macadam, with an inch of the tanbark as a finish. A 

 curb or border is necessary to keep the material within bounds. 



BORDERS 



When gravel, brick or tanbark is used in path construction 

 it should be bordered with turf or Box (Fig. 129), or both. Turf 

 borders should not be less than twelve inches wide and, where space : 

 permits, wider. If the turf border is too narrow the periodic edging • 

 reduces it to irregular widths. For this reason stone or brick on 

 end or edge is often preferable. 



GARDEN BEDS — WIDTH 



Beds which may be reached from two sides can be six feet wide; 

 those which can be worked from one side only should not be more 

 than three feet wide. 



The beds should never be placed next to a hedge, as the roots of 

 the stronger growing hedge plants become very troublesome to the 

 cultivated and enriched area. Under some conditions it is not 

 possible to avoid having a bed next to the hedge; in such cases a 

 three-inch concrete wall, two and one-half feet deep, constructed 

 along the inside of the hedge, will help to force the hedge roots in the 

 opposite direction. 



PREPARING GARDEN BEDS 



A successful garden will depend greatly on the preparation of 

 the soil, care in planting and the upkeep. Garden beds should 

 contain from eighteen inches to two feet of good friable soil. If it 

 is not possible to supply all beds with this amount of good soil en- 

 riched with well rotted cow manure, the available top soil on the 

 garden area should be stripped, the manure dug into the bottom soil 



