WEEDS AND WALKS. 



67 



insects that may harbour there. If the walks have box or grass edgings great care 

 must be taken in applying the solution, lest the edges suffer from its contact, as it has 

 no particular respect for any sort of vegetation. One dose is sufficient for a season. It 

 must be kept from coming into contact with either the hands or clothes, as in the 

 former case it will cause the skin to peel off. 



" 4. Buy common vitriol, about 3d. per lb. Choose a clear evening, after a hot 

 day. Put water into a wooden pail or tub, and add vitriol thereto in the proportion 

 of one to thirty parts of water. Take a wcll-paintcd watering-pot, and, beginning at 

 the end of the path, step backwards, watering as you go, taking care to keep clear of 

 the edgings, if these are living, and to avoid splashing the mixture over clothes or 

 boots. When done, fill the pail with fresh water, and leave the watering-pot in all 

 night, to draw out the acid. In the morning the path will not injure boots after the 

 dew is off, and the weeds will be either all dead or dying. Should one's clothes 

 get a spot or two, a teaspoouful of smelling salts in water will restore the colour. 

 Let the path remain for a day or two, and then brush oflt' the dead weeds. One appli- 

 cation is generally sufficient for a long time. Tried and proved for years. 



"5. Get a little crude carbolic acid, which is cheap, and make a very dilute 

 solution with Avater, about an ounce of the former to a gallon of the latter. "Water 

 the gravel very carefully with it. Do not let it touch the grass lawn or borders." 



Asphalt and Concrete Walks. 



Asphalt and concrete walks, though most serviceable and the least trouble after 

 they are once made, are not, as a rule, approved for walks and drives in prominent 

 positions. Unless particularly well made, the asphalt is liable to soften in hot weather, 

 the smell of gas tar also being objectionable. Where, however, gravel is liable to be 

 washed away, and in positions where there is much wheeling to be done, asphalt and 

 concrete walks are desirable. Three good methods of forming these are as follows : — 



"1. Take two parts dry lime and one part coal ashes, also very dry and both sifted 

 fine. In a dry place on a dry day mix them, and leave a hole in the middle of the 

 heap, as bricklayers do when making mortar. Into this pour boiling hot coal tar ; 

 mix, and when as stiff as mortar, put it down 3 inches thick to form the walk. The 

 ground should be dry and beaten smooth. Sprinkle over it coarse sand ; when cold 

 pass a light roller over it, and in a few days the walk will be solid and waterproof. 



*' 2. An old gravel path will only require to be swept clean; a newly-made one to 



