594 



HORTICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 



even granting that the things themselves are tolerable. It 

 is difficult to set" them easily and cheaply, so that they 

 will remain erect. To have them set by a mason is a plan 

 resorted to by some; but it is simply a way of wasting 

 money. Of course, a good workman may arrange them 

 neatly enough by ramming down the soil firmly on each 

 side ; but even then, they are, after all, the worst variety of 

 edging known. They are also often of a texture that 

 cracks into small pieces with the first frost, though there 

 are some much more tenacious. The expense in the first 

 instance is heavy, and one way or another they become un- 

 satisfactory, till there is no tolerating them any longer, and 



Fig. 349. 



Showing the effect of Eustic Iron Edgings in the public gardens. 



they are thrown by with the old iron or the oyster 

 shells. 



The reason why people have resorted to them is, that the 

 edgings ordinarily used often prove disappointing and dirty, 

 and they long for something that will be neat and tidy at 

 all times. To abuse a bad thing without offering a better, 

 or any at all, is often no better than to stand still and tolerate 

 a nuisance ; but in this instance I am able to recommend a 

 capital permanent edging — everlasting, in fact, and with 

 nothing that could offend the most critical taste. It is 

 simply made of rustic rods of cast iron, in imitation of the 

 little edgings of bent branchlets that everybody must have 



