January 16.J 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
241 
a house or barn; but I forget the angle of steepness also, : 
but that does not signify much, any angle of from 30° to I 
00° would answer just as well, or if we say the common ! 
angle of 45°, it will answer very well; and any width at 
bottom, from teu to twenty or thirty feet, according to 
the quantity of soil on hand, would also be as proper 
as any other. Indeed, a whole system of cellars above 
ground for holding ice, potatoes, fruit, roots, tools, and 
what not might he made close to one’s premises, in this 
fashion, cheaper than any other way that I can think 
of just now: by first building a vault or arch of ordinary 
dimensions, and then covering it over with any thickness 
of earth, bringing it to a ridge, like the roof of a house, i 
with a door at one or both ends, which might be hid by I 
shrubs. Let us suppose that a rising piece of awkward 
ground is in one’s way, and that with a little contriv-1 
auce it might be formed into a kind of ridge,—no matter [ 
in what direction, we shall find some ornamental plants i 
to cover it; a hank of some kind being determined on, ! 
and that we mean to use it for training evergreen roses, 
or other climbers, all over it, the proposition is reduced 
to the mere routine of executing the work as effectually 
and as cheaply as we can. 
At the time the original was made, it was a common 
belief that black surfaces were more warm and congenial 
to fruit trees than any other; therefore, both sides of 
the bank were covered with dark slates, lapping over 
each other, hut not so close as in common roofing ; and 
over the slates were placed horizontal lines of stout iron 
wire, as they do sometimes against fruit walls ; these 
lines were a foot apart, and were held three inches from 
the slate by iron supports driven through the slate 
into pieces of oak wood let into the bank. Peach and 
apricot trees were trained against the west side of the 
bank, and plum and cherry trees on the east aspect, 
and the whole answered very well indeed. But for the 
new bank, I mean better things than peaches aud 
plums (with Mr. Errington’s leave), and for much 
better gardens than cabbage ground (if Mr. Barnes 
will allow it so): nothing except the very best flowering 
climbers shall I admit for my bank; and we shall have 
no slate covering either, only a concrete surface and a 
trellis of some sort. Gardeners know, full well, the 
value and use of concrete in these days, although we 
have been loth to write much about it yet. Let us now 
suppose that a ridged bank has been finished after the 
manner here intended, the soil equally pressed on all [ 
sides, forced into a sharp ridge, and smoothed down with | 
the back of the spade; if left in this way, aud uncovered, | 
it would soon crumble away, with the changes between 
rains and frost, therefore we must cover it with the j 
concrete to keep it safe. But, first of all, supports for 
holding the trellis should be fixed at stated intervals in 
the bank;—nothing is bettor than pieces of dry oak 
scantlings, two or three inches square, and a foot or 
fifteen inches long, with sharp points to be driven into J 
the bank so as to have the ends flush, or even with the 
surface, six or eight feet apart in the horizontal direc¬ 
tion, and about a foot apart up the bank; or, if it was 
thought sufficient to use lath-like strips 'of wood instead 
of wire, the ends of the oak pieces should stand out, say 
three inches from the bank, and be rather nearer to each j 
other in the horizontal lines than for wire. An inch of 
concrete, which will be quite sufficient, would then re- j 
duce the distance of the trellis from the bank to two ; 
inches; which would be about the right space to allow 
a current of air between the bank and the plants, and 
still to allow them to be so near as to get the benefit of 
the heat from the bank. 
All this being settled, a quantity of very fine or sandy 
gravel, or, what is still better, a quantity of fine sifted 
coal ashes must be had for making the concrete. Some 
lime, aud if the lime be strong, that is, stone lime, one 
barrowful of it to eight barrow-loads of ashes will do; 
and if it is chalk lime, one to six will be better. These 
are to be mixed as they mix mortar for bricklayers, and 
to he made nearly as soft, and then to be spread all over 
the bank, beginning at the bottom and plastering it on all 
the way up. A handy man will soon get into the way 
of doing it properly, after a trial or two; and he may 
lay it on much thinner than an inch, if the concrete is 
made of the proper softness. A trowel, or a plasterer’s 
tool, would do the work neater than an old spade; but, 
for want of a better tool, such a spade would do; and, 
in either case, the tool should be occasionally dipped in 
water, and then run over the surface, to give it a very 
smooth or glossy touch. About the end of April, or 
when hard frosts are over, is the best time for this con¬ 
creting; for if the weather is too hot or dry, the concrete 
will dry unequally, aud then crack; and it is a good pi an 
to look over it after a day or two at any time, to smooth 
down any cracks with the back of the spade. After the 
concrete is perfectly dry, a single coat of gas tar run over 
it, either hot or cold, will preserve it from the frost for a 
long time; and then after fixing the trellis, the whole is 
fit to be planted. If iron holdfasts are preferred for 
holding the trellis, let them be four inches long, sharp 
as a nail at one end, and an eye bole in the other to 
pass the wire through ; these holdfasts are let into the 
oak pieces with a gimlet-hole ; they need not be very 
stout, a little thicker than a pen-holder will do. Iu a 
clay country, or where three inches of clay worked to a 
soft paste could be made cheaper than this concrete, 
that would do equally well for covering such a bank; 
and if the bank is made altogether of clay, the outside 
ought to be worked with soft clay, so as to get a smooth 
surface; and when the clay is quite dry on the outside, 
and has done cracking, and the cracks are smoothed 
over, the whole surface must have a coat of the gas tar 
in the same way as the concrete. The cheapest way to 
get at the tar is to borrow an old tar-barrel from a 
neighbour, when you have not one already at hand, to 
send it to the gas works, and tell them to measure out 
so many gallons. I forget what they charge for a gallon, 
or what quantity of surface a gallon will cover; but I 
know it is very cheap. A reverend gentleman in the 
next parish to us has used quantities of it—I think he 
told me for twenty years past,—and he strongly recom¬ 
mends it; indeed it was through his strong advice that 
I first took to it this way. He told me, moreover, what 
few people are aware of, that it is best used cold* just as 
it comes home. Some of his glebe lands are stiff clay, 
and he has it used for walls, banks, paths in the dry; 
and I think he told me he was going to floor his coach' 
house with a layer of clay thus prepared, and to give it 
a coat or two of the cold tar; and, from some former 
experiments, he was confident of as good a bottom as if 
he used the asphalt instead. He reads this work, and if 
I have erred, or want more instructions about it, I am 
quite sure of being put on the right way. What I have 
used of it was just in the manner here stated. 
This bank, which I said was in the flower-garden here, 
has often been admired; but it is on a different plan 
altogether, having only one sloping side, and that lull 
to the south. It was partly cut out of the natural 
ground, and the rest added to the top, to form the side 
of a terrace; the length of the slope is nine feet, and the 
angle of inclination 45°. It is trellised and covered with 
roses, and has been in use now twelve years. At the 
time it was made, concrete was not in use, except as 
foundations for buildings; and we never had this bank 
quite to our liking, till it had been concreted and tarred, 
as I have just said; but since, it has answered all our 
expectations. Now, this last kind of bank might be 
made in very many places at very little expense. Sup¬ 
pose a natural bank, or broken piece of steep ground, 
anywhere within the pleasure-grounds—and 1 have 
known such places to be eyesores—reduce it to an even 
