72 



GARDEN WALLS. 



Fig. 42. 







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[ . ' 









W 









ness of from half an inch and upwards. 

 If laid on a solid bed of mortar or ce- 

 ment, it will last for ages. 



Cast-iron copings may be advantage- 

 ously employed where stone is expensive ; 

 and next to Caithness pavement, slate, and 

 glass, they will prove the most durable of 

 all. Such copings should 

 be cast in pieces from 4 to 

 5 feet in length and half an 

 inch in thickness, having 

 a flange, as shown in fig. 

 42, cast on both edges of 

 their under surfaces, of a 

 depth equal to the thick- 

 ness of an ordinary brick. Where no 

 projection is desired, they should be cast 

 to the exact thickness of the wall : laid on 

 a bed of mortar, they will keep the wall 

 perfectly dry, as well as retain the upper 

 course of bricks in their proper place. 

 When a projection is to be used, then the 

 last course of bricks should be laid so as 

 to project over both bases of the wall, say 

 from 2 to finches. The plates are then, 

 in such cases, to be cast of a correspond- 

 ing breadth. If the edge of the flanges 

 hang down one-fourth of an inch below 

 the brick, the drip will fall clear of the 

 wall. 



Cast-iron plates, enamelled with glass 

 on all sides, as exemplified in the recent im- 

 provement, by the same process, in the case 

 of pipes for conveying water, are likely 

 also to be employed, under certain condi- 

 tions, for this purpose. Their form and 

 manner of setting on should be the same 

 as the above. 



On the utility of copings, the follow- 

 ing reasonable remarks are made by 

 a correspondent in the " Gardeners' 

 Chronicle :" — " The object sought to be 

 attained by planting trees against a wall 

 is to accelerate their growth, so as to 

 enable them to mature their fruit-bearing 

 wood, and afterwards, by the aid of the 

 increased heat and shelter which the wall 

 affords, to stimulate them to produce fruit 

 that shall be of a superior size and excel- 

 lence. It is worthy of remark, however, 

 that it is not always the trees most favour- 

 ably situated in these respects that are 

 the most healthy and fruitful ; on the 

 contrary, we often find them more liable 

 to disease and the attacks of insects. The 

 cause of this may be sometimes owing to 

 the soil, but it may possibly also proceed 



from the coping being made to project 

 farther than it ought — in consequence of 

 which the leaves are deprived of the ad- 

 vantages they would obtain, during the 

 growing season, from the genial rains of 

 the day or the heavy dews of night. Some 

 persons argue that, unless the copings 

 project so far as to carry off the drip from 

 the trees, they are worse than useless. 

 Others contend for a coping that shall 

 only project one or two inches ; and a 

 few have advocated copings of a foot or 

 more in width. Between these opinions 

 it is difficult for one who is not conver- 

 sant with such matters to determine 

 which plan is the best. Were he to 

 adopt the practice usually followed in 

 cases of doubt, and choose a middle 

 course, it might happen, in doing so, he 

 had committed as great an error in fixing 

 on a coping of 6 inches, as on one a foot 

 wide. So far as our experience goes, we 

 believe that the advantages of a wide 

 coping have been much overrated, and 

 that the drip which falls on the trees from 

 a narrow one is not by any means so 

 injurious as has been imagined. We 

 admit that in spring, when the trees are 

 in blossom, a wide coping may be useful, 

 to be temporary, and 

 removable immediately 

 after the fruit is fairly 

 set. The accompanying 

 sketches may serve the 

 purpose of drawing at- 

 tention to the subject. 

 Fig. 43 we consider one 

 of the worst copings for 

 a garden wall that can 

 be used ; although, no 

 doubt, excellent crops 

 have been grown under such a structure. 

 The harbour it affords to all sorts of ver- 

 min is a great objection to 

 it. Fig. 44 is the sort of 

 coping in general use where 

 stone or slate is plentiful. It 

 answers the purpose effectu- 

 ally, if care be taken to keep 

 the joints well filled with ce- 

 ment. A small groove under- 

 neath the edge would be an 

 improvement. In fact, no 

 coping can be said to be com- 

 plete without a groove, or some other 

 contrivance, to prevent the water from 

 running down the wall." 



but it ought 

 Fig. 43. 



/ 



Fig. 44. 



