191 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



ing gravelling, a ridge of soil is placed along both, 

 sides of each walk to line and measurement, so as to 

 form its exact site. Such soil, having a line stretched 

 tightly over it from end to end, is heaten down 

 firmly and evenly upon its surface to a level with 

 the mean level of the borders. With the spade a 

 trench is chopped out along the line, perfectly 

 straight on the side next the walk. The Box, pulled 

 into uniform sizes of about five inches each, with 

 roots attached, is subsequently placed firmly in such 

 trench, with about an inch of its apices only above 

 the ground-level. It is then buried with the soil 

 removed when forming the trench, being well 

 trodden in and made firm, when gravel is placed 

 against it, and the lajdng of the edging and the 

 surfacing of the walks are thus completed. 



Box edgings will last indefinitely when annually 

 clipped closely during the month of June. But 

 although when well laid they may be almost looked 

 upon as permanent, yet they generally thrive best 

 when renewed at intervals of, say, from three to 

 five years ; the constant cutting is apt to produce a 

 stunted and thickened condition of root, which is 

 best counteracted by division. When the Box is 

 re-laid, as above described, all the inferior and 

 surplus stock should be laid in up to within an inch 

 of its top in good ground. The plants will root 

 right up to the limits of their buried portion, and 

 this reserve should be freely drawn upon at each 

 fresh re-laying of the edgings. Where the edgings 

 have become at all old or unhealthy, these also 

 should be torn to pieces in small portions, and laid 

 in the reserve ground for Box, and the fresh edgings 

 entirely formed from the reserve ground. 



Box will not thrive upon wet or very heavy- 

 ground, and on such either dead edgings should be 

 used, or some lighter soil employed for the growth 

 of the Box. The latter thrives well in the black, 

 rather rich mould, mostly found in old kitchen 

 gardens. Care must also be taken not to wheel nor 

 walk over Box edgings, as, though the injury may 

 not show or look serious at the time, all such 

 wounds and bruises will reveal an absolute blank, 

 or a yellow- jaundiced look, more disfiguring than 

 a blank, soon after the injury has been inflicted. 

 To prevent these and other injuries to Box edgings, a 

 Box-bridge of some sort should always exist in gar- 

 dens where living edgmgs are much used. This 

 may consist of a straight piece of board a yard long 

 and three or four inches wide, with a cross-piece four 

 inches deep nailed on one end ; this is placed a foot 

 or so inside the Box edging, and the other end on 

 the walk, thus enabling barrows to be wheeled over 

 without injury to the edging. Other bridges are 

 curved or hollowed out in the middle so as to clear 

 the Box, and afford an easy passage from either side. 



Though there is no doubt that the common garden 

 Box — that is, Buxus sempervirens nana — is the best 

 edging plant for the kitchen garden, the following 

 succeed well in various localities : the four variegated 

 Euonymuses — argentea, variegata, aurea variegata, 

 and latif alius aurea marginata ; the silver and golden 

 variegated Yew; the golden Japanese Honeysuckle; 

 the silver-leaved, golden, and green Periwinkle ; 

 Andromeda latifolia, Kalmia latifolia, the smaller 

 Retinosporas, Veronica incana, Osmanthus varie- 

 gatum nanum, Pernettya macronaia, and on light or 

 peaty soils such hardy Heaths as Erica ciliaris, E. c. 

 alba, E. tetralix, E. t. alba, E. Mediterraneas, E. M. 

 alba, E. multiflora, E. m. rubra, E. calluna, E. vul- 

 garis alba, E. v. aurea, E. v. coccinea, &c. Where 

 such plants thrive, nothing can well look more 

 charmingly beautiful than some of them either in 

 kitchen or flower gardens. Then the variegated and 

 other Ivies, especially such a strikingly beautiful 

 one as the golden Japanese Ivy, are a whole host in 

 themselves. The silver and other Maples, common 

 and purple-leaved Beech, purple Filbert, and some 

 of the finer Berberries, Butcher's Broom, and Gotone- 

 asters, make striking walk edgings. 



Among herbaceous plants, the Thrift, or Sea-Pink, 

 of which there are several varieties, the blue Gentian, 

 and the Moss-leaved Saxifrage, the common House- 

 Leek, and other Sedums, form good and permanent 

 edgings. Primroses, Violets, Daisies, and many other 

 dwarf compact-growing plants, have hardly sufficient 

 bulk or permanency in winter for edgings. Thjine, 

 especially the Golden Lemon, and other herbs, 

 such as Chives, Burnet, Pennyroyal, and Parsley, 

 are often used as an edging plant in kitchen 

 gardens, and some of the many varieties of the extra- 

 curled Moss-leaved Parsley, such as Beauty of the 

 Boudoir, are among the most beautiful of all edgings. 

 Unfortunately, however, unless the w^alks are speci- 

 ally smooth, hard, and clean, the Parsley gets 

 splashed and spoilt for use in such positions. 



While li\dng edgings are the most pleasant, they 

 are seldom the most profitable. Most of them are 

 rather troublesome to make and keep, and need re- 

 newal every few years. Most of them exhaust the 

 soil very much, especially along their inner or crop- 

 growing side. Box especially has a w^onderful ten- 

 dency to seek out, run into, and exhaust the good pro- 

 perties of the earth in contact with it, and to grow to 

 excess in consequence. Other li%ang edgings, especi- 

 ally such as Ivy, grass, and Box, foi-m harbours for 

 slugs, worms, and other garden pests, in which they 

 breed with extraordinary rapidity, and defy des- 

 truction. 



The use of living edgings also prevents the use 

 of salt, poison, or hot water, in the keejnng of the 

 walks free from weeds. All such walks must either 



