£6 THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



much less durable than those of brick or stone. In order to 

 render them more permanent, they should be composed of the 

 best timber, particularly the uprights, to which the boarding 

 is fastened, and that part which is let into the ground should 

 be charred, as well as a certain portion above the surface, as 

 at that particular spot they are the most liable to decay. Iron 

 uprights might be substituted, but in their use, an almost in- 

 superable difficulty would present itself in attaching th-e board- 

 ing to them. Wooden walls should be either well covered 

 with some durable paint, or with the composition called coal- 

 tar. The latter, however, has a disagreeable smell for a long 

 time after its application ; and such walls will always have a 

 sombre and repulsive appearance. The boards of them should 

 be placed in an imbricated manner, and for this purpose they 

 should be cut with a thick edge on one side, and a thin one on 

 the other, such as is techmcally called weather-boarding. If 

 the boarding be thick, it would be advisable to join them as 

 closely as possible ; and, in order to prevent the air passing 

 through the joints, which will open considerably, however well 

 seasoned they may be, nail thin strips of deal to cover each 

 joint. These may be placed on the back of the wall, and will 

 not be so much exposed to view. Wooden walls are expen- 

 sive, and although they may be useful for nurserymen, for the 

 purpose of training young trees upon, they cannot be recom- 

 mended as advantageous or elegant in a well-disposed garden. 



Garden-walls, however constructed, or of whatever mate- 

 rials they may be made, require as much care in having them 

 well furnished with a coping, as it does to furnish a house with 

 a roof, and also on the same gi'ounds, of keeping them dry and 

 wholesome. All buildings are found to last a gi'eater length 

 of time when properly secured from wet, and as garden-walls 

 are exposed to all the vicissitudes of the weather, it is of im- 

 portance that they be furnished with a coping sufficient to 

 throw off the rain that may fall wpon their upper surface. 

 It has been a question much agitated amongst horticulturists, 

 whether the projection of the copings should be large or 

 small, or whether they should project at all. It is obvious 

 that they should project over the wall sufficiently to throw off 

 the rain : but that they should project considerably, is still a 



