WALLS. 



307 



WATER. 



wall to that height, with the addition 

 only of the bricks necessary to form 

 cross partitions at every three or four 

 feet. The width of the wall may 

 either be fourteen or eighteen inches, 

 the vacuity in the former case being 

 five inches, and in the latter nine 

 inches. Where it is desired to save 

 the expense of a coping, the sides of 

 the wall may be gradually contracted 

 towards the top, so as to finish with 

 a coping of bricks set on edge cross- 

 wise ; but no wall intended for fruit- 

 trees or for tender-flowering shrubs 

 should ever be built without a pro- 

 tecting coping, because the rains run 

 down the face of the wall and render 

 it moist and cold at those seasons 

 when dryness and heat are most 

 wanting, viz., iu spring, when the 

 buds are bursting, and in autumn 

 when the young wood is ripening. 

 The same moisture, and its alterna- 

 tion with dryness, rots the mortar in 

 the joints of the bricks, and greatly 

 injures and disfigures the face of the 

 wall. When, therefore, walls are 

 built without projecting copings, the 

 exterior joints ought invariably to be 

 pointed with stucco, as in France and 

 Italy, or with Roman cement. Walls 

 of nine inches in thickness, and even 

 four-inch walls, if built in a winding 

 or zigzag direction, may be carried to 

 a considerable height without either 

 having piers or being built hollow ; 

 and such walls answer perfectly for 

 the interior of gardens. Hollow walls 

 of every description may also be built 

 at less expense by placing the bricks on 

 edge instead of being laid flat ; and not 

 only garden walls but those of cot- 

 tages and farm-buildings may be con- 

 structed in this manner. Lengthened 

 details on this subject will be found 

 in Mr. Loudon's Encyclopedia of 

 Cottage Architecture, and in his 

 Suburban Gardener. 



For further particulars respecting 



the use of walls in ornamental gar- 

 dens, see Conservative Wall. 



Warratah.— See Telo'pea.— There 

 is also a Warratah Camilla ; so called 

 because its bright crimson colour re- 

 sembles that of the true Warratah 

 plant or Teldpea of Botany Bay. 



Water in gardening may be con- 

 sidered with reference to its use in 

 •vegetable culture, and to its effect in 

 landscape. When water is too abun- 

 dant in any soil, it is to be removed 

 by surface or underground draining ; 

 and the rain, or thawing snow which 

 produces water on the surface, is to be 

 conveyed away by similar means. See 

 Walks. Water as an element of 

 culture is next in importance to soil, 

 for plants can no more subsist without 

 the one than without the other. All 

 plants in a highly artificial state even 

 in a moist climate like that of Britaiu 

 require water occasionally ; for extra- 

 ordinary excitement by means of 

 soil, or manure, or artificial tempe- 

 rature, will be ineffective unless 

 seconded by water. For all ordinary 

 purposes, it is sufficient to pour the 

 water on the surface of the ground, 

 but if the operation of watering were 

 carried to the full extent of which it 

 is susceptible, it would be supplied 

 subterraneously by underground drains 

 as is sometimes done in fen lands, and 

 not unfrequently in reclaimed bogs, 

 both in Great Britain and Ireland. 

 Where the soil of a garden is to be 

 made the most of, there should be a 

 substratum of gravel or small stones, 

 with drains or small tunnels, or per- 

 forated tubes of earthenware at regu- 

 lar distances, communicating with a 

 supply of water a few feet above the 

 surface of the soil, by which water 

 might be admitted at pleasure, so as 

 to irrigate the whole of the under- 

 strata, and to supply moisture to the 

 roots of the plants altogether inde- 

 pendently of what thev might receive 

 x 2 



