COPINGS FOR GARDEN WALLS. 



73 



Fig. 45 " is probably the most common 

 way in which garden walls are coped ; 



and, when well done, it will 

 stand for many years, pro- 

 vided the bricks are laid 

 in cement. To obviate the 

 necessity of a groove in this 

 case, the inner end of the 

 bricks is to be bedded a little 

 thicker, so as to canse them 

 to incline outwards, but not 

 so much as to cause this to be 

 observable, unless to the prac- 

 tised eye." 

 Fig. 46 "is a mode of coping frequently 

 resorted to where stone or large slate 

 Fig 46 cannot be obtained; and it 

 answers very well. A thin 

 wall plate of wood is laid 

 along the edge, to secure the 

 first row of slate. The mid- 

 dle of the wall is then ridged 

 up with small pieces of stone 

 and lime, into which the 

 other rows of slate," or plain 

 tiles, " are made fast by small 

 wooden pins, and the whole 

 secured by a row of tiles on the 

 ridge ; the latter are sometimes coloured 

 to imitate slate, or coated with coal tar." 



Fig. 47 " is one of the best forms of 

 coping, and may be either of stone or 

 cement. The latter is the 

 cheapest, and may be moulded 

 to various forms by an experi- 

 enced workman. If the mate- 

 rials are good, and the right 

 proportions of sand and cement 

 used, a coping of this kind will 

 last a number of years, and 

 successfully resist the action of 

 the weather. Several moulds 

 of the proper length and shape 

 are first prepared. A certain 

 portion of cement and sharp fresh- water 

 sand is then wetted up and thoroughly 

 incorporated, no more being made at one 

 time than is considered sufficient to fill 

 one of the moulds. The mould, before 

 using, must be completely coated with 

 oil. A layer of cement is then spread 

 equally over it, in which two or three flat 

 tiles are placed across and embedded. 

 Some more cement is added, and a couple 

 of tiles placed lengthways along the 

 middle, for the purpose of strengthening 

 it, as well as to save the cement. The 



VOL. I. 



Fig. 47. 



whole is then filled with the remainder of 

 the cement, and smoothed off. In a few 

 minutes it hardens sufficiently to be 

 knocked out of the mould, and is after- 

 wards placed on a level airy spot until it 

 is dry. This was the late Mr Atkinson's 

 plan, and is that in use in the gardens of 

 the Horticultural Society." 



On the subject of projecting copings 

 for fruit-tree walls, we have the following 

 reasoning and proposed substitute by Mr 

 Archibald Gorrie, certainly the most 

 scientific resident gardener Scotland can 

 boast of. After alluding to the unde- 

 cided state of opinions on this subject, 

 he proceeds : — " On the other hand, how- 

 ever, it must be conceded, that garden 

 walls are generally built for affording a 

 higher temperature, in order to raise the 

 finer fruits, natives of warmer climates. 

 It is also well known that the earth radi- 

 ates heat in the night-time, and under a 

 clear and still atmosphere ; as any sub- 

 stance that intercepts the escape of such 

 radiated heat into the blue expanse, adds 

 considerably to the elevation of the tem- 

 perature on the lower side of that sub- 

 stance compared with that indicated on 

 its upper surface. Whether this proceeds 

 from the 'frigorific rays' being arrested 

 in their downward course, according to 

 some who insist that cold is a body, or 

 from radiated heat being arrested and 

 returned to the earth's surface, by pro- 

 jecting coping or other substance : be the 

 cause which, or what it may, few, I be- 

 lieve, of my brethren, in this intellectual 

 age, are so unscientific as to deny the 

 result. Taking it for granted, then, that 

 in clear and calm nights projecting 

 copings preserve a greater degree of heat 

 on the surface of the wall and border im- 

 mediately under that coping, and that the 

 difference of temperature in favour of a 

 projecting cope may vary from four to 

 eleven degrees, according to circumstan- 

 ces, it will readily be conceded that, in this 

 variable and cold climate, the advantage 

 afforded by a projecting cope should not be 

 rejected. This granted, the question now 

 occurs — how are its objectionable parts 

 to be done away with? The expense of an 

 18-inch projecting cope is of itself no joke, 

 and adds considerably to the estimate of 

 building a new garden wall ; and, after that 

 expense has been incurred, there is an ap- 

 pearance of gloom andheaviness ill adapted 



