578 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 27, 1888. 
garden have a much greater amount of hard work to do than those 
in the pleasure ground ; their structure must be regulated accord¬ 
ingly—a larger amount of stone being used in their formation. 
But before engaging on this duty let us take a view of walks in 
general, and see what alterations the last few years have made in 
the way these have been brought about. 
An examination of one of our ancient highways will easily con¬ 
vince us that our ancestors were more liberal in the materials they 
used in those days than we are now. The same, in fact, as they 
were in their buildings, furniture, and other things. Indeed, it 
does not appear that in the good old golden times there was any 
lack of materials, and there are few objects now remaining that 
evince any niggardliness in their construction. Old roads, for in¬ 
stance, contain many cartloads of large stones for their foundation, 
w r hich the disciples of Mr. McAdam regarded as little short of 
downright waste. Be this, however, as it may, certain it is that 
some of their old roads had withstood a deal of wear and tear, and 
it is questionable if our present economical plan, as we call it, is not 
accomplished at a certain amount of loss in the stability of the road. 
However, as the cartage of stones and other things always 
forms an important item in the expense of the whole, we may set 
it down as a paramount duty to make these go as far as possible, 
which may be accomplished in many ways with better effect than 
tumbling them into a pool or dirty hole ; for it often happens that 
the formation of roads or walks must take place in wet weather and 
in muddy places. 
The first duty is to well drain the roadway, and, as we suppose 
■our present one to be a garden walk, it will be easy to convey the 
water into the main drains by which the garden is intersected, sup¬ 
posing it to be so drained, or, if it does not want such draining, still 
to make sure that the walk be tolerably dry. 
My plan in making a new walk in stiff, heavy, clayey ground is 
to scoop out the interior, so that the centre of it may be some 7 or 
S inches deep or more, while the sides are not more than half that 
depth ; then, along the centre, which is the deepest part, I cut a 
drain and lay in ordinary drain pipes, filling it up with stones and a 
coating of stones all over the foundation of the walk, and then a 
finer sort of stone, and finally the gravel; the advantages of the 
ground being cut into something like a furrow at the bottom 
enables the water to run off into the drains and so be carried away. 
Yery broad walks will want two or more of such di’ains ; and I 
once arranged a considerable width of carriage-front roadway on 
this principle “ of ridge and furrow,” which acted admirably, the 
ground being a tenacious clay and the situation a moist one ; but in 
ordinary garden walks the best roadstone need not be used, for 
common materials will do ; useless lumps of stone or brickbats that 
may have been in a building will be very useful, especially if there 
be any of the old mortar adhering, as that is distasteful to worms, 
which are sad enemies to walks. Clinkers or the refuse of factory 
fires are equally applicable, or stones of any kind are all alike 
wanted, the object being to form a sort of bottom through which 
the water might drain ; a harder description of stone may be nearer 
the top, for the walks of a kitchen garden have often to endure the 
wheels of barrows and other hand-carriages, so that we must not 
deny these walks the necessary hardness to bear such heavy loads ; 
at the same time it must be borne in mind that they must present a 
smooth even surface as well. 
Supposing the foundation of the walk to be completed, and that 
a covering of good hard stones broken pretty small has been laid 
over that, we will then see what surface material can be had ; and 
in the first place stands gravel, which is, no doubt, the widest- 
spread material that we have, and which exists, in one shape or 
other, over most parts of the kingdom ; but it is not necessary here 
to describe the best, as local circumstances usually determine what 
has to be used. One thing, however, may be said, that the kind 
which is cleanest in winter or wet weather very often gets loose and 
feels unpleasant in dry weather in autumn ; while that which is 
somewhat sticky in winter or after rain often becomes very hard 
and firm in dry weather in summer. These points being extremes, 
it would be as well to avoid both, and select a gravel containing a 
part of the good properties of both. 
Next to gravel are broken stones, or what are called crushed 
stones, none being larger than a Walnut. These may be used in 
like manner to gravel, and some that I have seen are preferable to 
that article ; the best being the kind sometimes had in mining dis¬ 
tricts where lead and other metals are worked ; this I have seen 
formed into a walk superior to that of any gravel that can be had ; 
but as this can only be had in certain localities we must pass on. 
Ashes, or the refuse from some iron-works, or other places 
where extensive furnaces are at work, form pretty good walks, 
some being of a sort of copper or bronze colour, and certainly dis¬ 
tasteful to weeds and worms, as some of them contain poisonous 
matter, which makes them a long time proof to weeds. When this 
can be had it may with advantage be used as a covering to walks ; 
but it is not applicable everywhere, and if not hard it must not be 
used too plentifully in kitchen-garden walks, as the stones under¬ 
neath it must do the work for it. 
Many other substances might be used as a covering, but local 
circumstances often determine them. I will add no more at 
present, but may say that in hilly walks or those having much 
descent lime may be used to some advantage. I have used some 
lime in a pounded state mixed with the gravel when dry and laid 
on in that state, and after a good watering and beating it gets very 
hard. This is the principle of concreting ; but I have never yet 
been able to do it so effectually as to prevent the evil effects of 
summer thunderstorms where the descent is of considerable extent, 
but this concreting is of great service. Where expense is not an 
object the best of walks are made of asphalt, and these are perhaps 
cheap in the end.—J. N. 
IVY. 
The Ivies are naturally climbers, and as such they are generally 
planted. The varieties are often the result of sports, and have a 
strong tendency to return to the normal state, especially some of 
the variegated kinds. Nearly all the variations in size of leaf and 
habit of growth may often be seen in woods, where the common 
wild Ivy, with small leaves of a grey colour, having shining veins of 
white, may be met with along with others of larger and greener 
foliage in every gradation up to the robust Irish Ivy, which, I may 
remark, is the most useful one we have, and that most generally 
cultivated. I am not positive that it is the best climber, but its 
rapid growth, and its property of forming fresh leaves when cut-in, 
render it suitable to most places where it is subjected to some 
degree of management. 
Even this Ivy presents a difference in its foliage, leaves broadly 
palmate being met with at one time, while others almost lanceolate 
or ovate are formed higher up the plant, and the climbing shoot 
becomes a short, dense, bushy-headed one when it can find nothing 
to cling to, or where the plant is stunted in its growth, as may be 
seen where an aged tree is covered with Ivy, and the laterals thrown 
out can find nowhere else to travel. The Ivies form picturesque, 
I may almost say grotesque objects, where they cover a curious¬ 
headed pollard, and the most symmetrically trained pyramidal or 
conical Azalea has more than its equal in some large Fir trees that 
I have seen covered with this plant. 
With regard to trimming the Ivy, I by no means agree with 
some as to the proper time for doing so in the south and more 
favoured parts of England, though the case may be different in the 
north, where the plant is less robust. The plan we adopt is to 
cut-in closely the Ivy covering dwelling-houses in the beginning of 
August, very often scarcely leaving a leaf, and yet the whole plant 
is again densely covered with foliage five or six weeks afterwards ; 
and the season being then too far gone', the growth is confined to 
leaves, which, with us, become firm and established before winter, 
so as to sustain no injury from frosts. Thus the Ivy looks trim 
and neat up to the following June, when the summer shoots begin 
to elongate. It will be seen that there is with this plan a period of 
fully eight or nine months in which the plant looks as uniform as 
the wall against which it clings, while the remainder of the time 
may be divided about equally between the period of the shoots 
growing in early summer and that of the formation of foliage in 
the latter part of the season. 
Let us see what are the effects of cutting Ivy in March. The 
formation of fresh foliage or shoots will then take about the same 
time as in the former case, while the period during which the Ivy 
forms a close carpet is very short indeed. Shoots of some length 
are formed, and these, remaining unshortened until the following 
March, are often in the way when a trim and symmetrical appear¬ 
ance ought to prevail. Observe, I by no means advise the trimming 
of Ivy in August when there is a danger of the leaves not being 
produced sufficiently early to withstand the autumn and winter 
frosts; but when the operation can be performed at that time with 
safety, let it be done. 
As to the propriety of covering a dwelling-house with Ivy, 
there are various opinions, many contending that appearance is 
the only recommendation it has ; but to trees it is very injurious ; 
many an Oak has been strangled in its embraces, and Pinuses suffer 
still more. Within a very few yards of where I write, a Spruce 
Fir upwards of 70 feet high has been for some years struggling for 
an existence, which is gradually drawing to a close. A few small 
patches of green on the tips of some of its branches are all the 
signs of life which it exhibits. The tree may survive one more 
year, while the mantle of Ivy triumphantly takes possession of the 
whole of the trunk; the Ivy branches, dense as Box, protrude in 
all directions, forming an elongated cone of greater symmetry than 
ever the Spruce did in its best days. The Ivy has not taken 
possession of any of the dead branches, although many of them 
