COPINGS FOR GARDEN WALLS. 



71 



stone red hot, and quenched it in cold 

 water, without its cracking or appearing 

 to lose its peculiar tenacity. As regards 

 cost, we have purchased many thousand 

 feet at from fourpence-halfpenny to five- 

 pence per square foot : it may be procured 

 in lengths of six feet and upwards. 



Arbroath pavement, and also Hailes, 

 are excellent for this purpose ; but as 

 both need the operation of the chisel, 

 they become far more expensive, from 

 the labour they require. 



Earthenware copings — that is, bricks 

 of various forms and lengths — are often 

 used where stones are expensive, and even 

 common-sized bricks laid along the top 

 as headers, projecting 2 or 3 inches over 

 the face of the wall on both sides, and 

 kept down by a third course laid over 

 their inner ends. Now that the manu- 

 facturer is allowed to make his bricks 

 of any form or size he pleases, very 

 durable copings are made of considerable 

 dimensions. The only objections to these 

 large bricks is the difficulty of getting 

 them straight out of the kiln ; and the 

 larger they are, the more liable are they 

 to become crooked. 



Slates have been used, and, when suffi- 

 ciently thick, make a neat and desirable 

 coping. They may be procured from 

 the Bangor and other quarries in Wales, 

 Ireland, and Cornwall, in lengths of 

 6 or 7 feet, from 1 to 3 or 4 inches 

 thick, and of any required breadth. 

 We know of no material more durable, 

 and of so elegant an appearance as these. 

 They have been in use as copings in the 

 gardens at Ashtead Park in Surrey, and 

 elsewhere, for upwards of half a century. 



Roman cement has been much used ; 

 but it is better adapted for the climate 

 of - London than that of Scotland, and, 

 unless properly tempered and laid on, 

 it will not be satisfactory. Copings made 

 of it require to rise considerably in the 

 centre, to allow the water to pass freely off. 



Both plain and pan tiles have been 

 used for coping walls, but neither have 

 a neat or substantial appearance ; and they 

 are liable to be displaced by high winds. 



In many parts of the south of Eng- 

 land — and we have observed the same 

 on the Continent — the coping of walls 

 is formed of straw thatch, and made to 

 project, even over low walls, 10 or 12 

 inches. 



Where stone copings are used, they 

 should be 3| or 4 inches thick at the 

 centre, and not less than 2 at the plinth, 

 being bevelled off to either side on the 

 upper surface, so that the rain that falls 

 on the wall may be equally divided, and 

 not thrown all to one side, as has been 

 erroneously recommended. On this part 

 of the subject Nicol judiciously remarks : 

 (e It may be right to throw the whole of 

 the water to the side not covered with 

 fruit trees ; but it is wrong to throw it 

 all to the worst aspect, if that aspect be 

 planted; but doubly disadvantageous to 

 the trees placed on it, if there be any 

 disadvantage in the rains falling upon 

 them — which, indeed, is questionable, 

 except perhaps just when the fruit 

 is ripening off. The quantity of rain 

 that falls on an ordinary wall is but 

 trifling ; and if even a light breeze of 

 wind prevail at the time, it is generally 

 dashed against the foliage in dripping, 

 is scattered and dissipated. In short, it 

 is quite as well for the trees that there 

 be no projection at all, if the coping 

 be fixed." As regards the protection of 

 the wall, considered merely as such, a 

 projection of 1 inch is as good as a foot. 

 Many builders think otherwise ; but expe- 

 rience and observation have convinced 

 us to the contrary. Hence very good 

 copings are made of hammer-dressed 

 stones, set on edge — a plan generally 

 adopted in the case of park walls. 



Lead has been used, and, so far as keep- 

 ing the roof of the wall dry, nothing can be 

 better ; but in the case of lead, projections 

 must be dispensed with, as well on the 

 ground of expense as of the effect which 

 a coping of 2 or more inches in thickness 

 gives to walls, and which of course cannot 

 be given with lead. 



Asphalte — a preparation of compara- 

 tively modern invention — has been tried 

 for wall coping, and found to answer the 

 purpose completely. It requires to be 

 laid on in a semi-fluid state while warm ; 

 therefore a boarded frame must be ar- 

 ranged on the top of the wall, to give the 

 asphalte the necessary form. 



Glass copings — the most indestructible 

 of all materials — will, we have no doubt, 

 ere long be brought into use. The coarser 

 qualities of this imperishable article may 

 be procured in lengths of 6 or 8 feet, and 

 of any reasonable breadth, and in thick- 



