THE RESERVE FLOWER-GARDEN. 



591 



as to present a thickness above the sur- 

 face of the walk of from half an inch to 

 an inch and a half, according to the 

 breadth of the walk and the style of 

 architecture adopted. 



Wirework edgings are better fitted to 

 walks in the gardenesque style than to 

 those in the geometrical, as they want the 

 appearance of substance and proportion 

 to associate with the materials around 

 them. 



Various kinds of cements and asphalts 

 have been recommended for such pur- 

 poses ; and some of the latter, when 

 slightly heated, become sufficiently flex- 

 ible to be bent into circular or curved 

 lines. The only evil is their liability to 

 be affected by the weather. 



Oak boarding has long been employed 

 for edgings, and for temporary purposes 

 answers as well as any ; but its liability to 

 decay renders it unfit for such purposes 

 in gardens of the highest order. 



§ 8. — THE RESERVE FLOWER-GARDEN. 



The utility of such a garden in places 

 where flower- gardening is carried out to 

 the fullest extent, is so very great that all 

 acquainted with the management of such 

 establishments will concur with us in 

 urging the formation of such an appen- 

 dage ; for without it the principal flower- 

 garden can never be maintained in proper 

 order. The use of a reserve flower-garden 

 is to contain a supply of plants that can 

 be taken up and planted in the place of 

 those which have ceased to be ornamental 

 or desirable. The reserve ground should, 

 in regard to extent, bear some relation to 

 the extent and the character of the gar- 

 den it is intended to supply. The small- 

 est residences should have a few square 

 yards of reserve ground ; and, for flower- 

 gardening of great extent, there should 

 be a considerable extent of pits, both 

 heated and cold, and the fourth of an 

 acre or more of ground. 



In this reserve-ground the various ope- 

 rations of propagating should be carried 

 on j and in it should be kept a sufficient 

 duplicate stock of every plant or shrub 

 that may be required for making up the 

 deficiencies as they occur in the principal 

 garden. For this purpose, unless for 

 heaths, American plants, and the like, 



which prefer a peaty soil, but from the 

 multiplicity of their roots are capable of 

 being removed at all times, the soil 

 should be of rather a loamy nature, that 

 it may adhere better to the roots of the 

 plants about to be transferred to the 

 flower borders. It would be well also to 

 grow a large portion of geraniums and 

 similar plants in pots plunged in the 

 ground, as they are found to flower better 

 when so treated than when planted out in 

 the free soil. Many flower-garden plants, 

 such as verbenas, &c, should be rooted 

 in half-decayed moss, refuse flax-dressings, 

 or the like, as they root freely in such 

 media ; and, as it is capable of being cut 

 into square pieces with a sharp knife, or 

 of being separated by the hand, their re- 

 moval will be effected with certainty and 

 with little trouble. Many annuals, peren- 

 nials, trailing plants, &c, that would not 

 remove easily, might be grown in square 

 or triangular earthenware pans, or sown 

 on pieces of broad or narrow strips of 

 turf, and taken up and plunged when re- 

 quired. We prefer those forms of pans 

 to round ones, because they fit closer 

 together, and are better adapted to fill 

 figures in the geometrical style. No 

 flower-garden can be properly maintained 

 without a reserve-ground, and the nearer 

 it is situated to the principal garden the 

 better ; but it should be completely shut 

 out from it. There are many genera of 

 herbaceous plants that, if extensively 

 grown in such a garden, could be taken 

 up and transferred to the borders of the 

 flower-garden just as they are coming into 

 flower. Thus the whole tribe of hepaticas, 

 many of the dwarf-growing campanulas, 

 phloxes, gentians, &c, might be so treated. 

 The great dependence should, however, 

 be placed on plants grown in pots. It is 

 not, however, by growing such things in 

 dozens that all requirements are to be 

 answered — they must be grown by thou- 

 sands, and even to such an extent that a 

 parterre stripped of its decayed inhabi- 

 tants in the morning may be again filled 

 up and completed by the afternoon. To 

 such an extent do the Chinese carry this 

 department, that it is no unusual thing to 

 find a garden that is, to all appearance, 

 perfect in the evening, completely changed 

 in its character, and contents when seen 

 the next morning. 



Ranges of low pits heated by hot water 



