April 21. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
stopping at twelve feet of border, which would sustain 
trees of any dimensions. It will here be understood 
that we have now been treating of the border with 
regard to the fruit culture alone.. 
Now, the marginal borders will bear some relation to 
the wall borders on the opposite side ot the walks , toe 
latter, it will be remembered, were adverted to at page 
498. These borders will have to contain trees of some 
eight feet in diameter, occasionally — even under a 
dwarfing system—and provision must bo made accor¬ 
dingly for a proper extension ot their branches. And 
then comes another consideration. Many peisons pos¬ 
sessing but small gardens, desire to have a few flowers 
on the margins of such borders, and I really see no 
reason to object to it, provided those who do so will 
take care that their floral pets do not injure the fruit- 
trees. In this case, it is not the exhaustion of the 
border that is to bo feared, so much as the digging 
supposed to be necessary to flower culture. Now, 
dittoing must not be permitted where good tree cultuie 
is°to be carried out; neither is it necessary for the 
flowers We have a central walk here of this description, 
and it has had flowers of all kinds during the last 
twenty years, but it has never been dug, or it the spade 
has been used, it has only been about two inches in 
depth, and that more for the sake ot surface-levelling. 
We introduce flowers by making special holes for them, 
taking care to have the patches far apart, and intro¬ 
ducing the necessary compost with the trowel. If, then, 
flowers are to be provided tor, we cannot think ot 
borders much less than eight feet; more is needless, 
if no flowers or vegetable cropping, then a border of 
six or seven feet may be made to answer, but the pro¬ 
prietor must expect flourishing trees to oveihang the 
walks in an inconvenient manner. 
We must now contrive a back path for the sake ot 
operations, and for what before was termed breathing 
room We may meet with instances in which the 
owner, thinking to gain land for vegetable cropping, 
dispenses with this back path ; but this is an erroneous 
view of the affair. There is no gain, but a positive loss; 
for by it there is ever an inducement to crop closer than 
circumstances can justify, and the consequences aie im¬ 
mature vegetables, and injured fruit-trees. 
Such being the case, let me advise a path or alley ot 
! two feet inside the border, and thus keep that busy im¬ 
plement, the spade, within lawful bountls.. 1 his alley 
will need no edging; it will be quite sufficient, each le- 
turning spring, before vegetable cropping, to maik it 
out anew, so as to sustain the bounds. Some choose to 
put edgings of Parsley and other herbs, Strawberries, 
&c.; nothing but sheer necessity can justify this, for 
such practice involves the use of the spade as a pre 
parer, and thus the valuable surface-roots which ought 
to invest beneath the path are destroyed, and one of 
the uses of the path nullified. And here, before con¬ 
cluding this portion of our subject, let me point to the 
fact, that a good cultivator will so contrive to make Ins 
walks near fruit-trees as to afford every facility for the 
roots obtaining a secure retreat from, the spade, and 
thus promote genuine economy, by turning every portion 
of the surface to account. As to modes of preparation, 
nothing more is needed than, before adding the gravel, 
or whatever else the walks are cased with, to secuie a 
healthful soil beneath ; any ordinary sound garden soil 
will do; and as to the dryness of the future walk, that 
will, of course, be secured by the original drainage, and 
by making due provision for carrying the surface waters 
&WRV. 
One thing yet remains to be settled as to the Kitchen- 
ttarden, before proceeding to the Orchard, namely, what 
edging to give the principal walks. In former days, tlieie 
was scarcely more than one idea on this head: Box was 
the material, whether in large gardens or small. In the 
37 i 
extensive gardens of Mr. Rucker, at Melrose Hall, near 
Wandsworth, some forty years since, the kitchen-gardens 
were edged witli bricks set on end: these had an untidy 
and meagre appearance, and were quite unworthy the 
style of the grounds. Stone edgings, with an architec¬ 
tural moulding, are excellent, but they are very expen¬ 
sive. We have, however, in these days, tiles of various j 
descriptions, which are very handy and neat affairs, and, j 
for a small garden, at least, undeniable. We have used 
them to a considerable extent during the last sixteen , 
years, and they were obtained from Hayward’s Tileries, 
Burslem, Staffordshire; they are now, doubtless, in 
many hands. They are a foot long, by six inches deep, 
four of which are buried to keep them steady ; and they j 
possess a nice moulding on the upper edge. These 
never break with frost, and are, by far, too impervious to 
favour the growth of moss. 
I may here remark, that if the proprietor of the fruit 
and vegetable-garden fears not expense, and is desirous 
of showing what the art of gardening can do, he may 
establish wire trellises on all the marginal borders, in 
which case the garden may be made as prim as a map, 
and the marginal borders may be made much narrower, 
and, of course, more convenient. The Royal Gardens, 
at Frogmore, exhibit a character of this kind ; and many 
more kinds of trellises are, or may be adopted, about 
which we shall say more in due course. 
The training of wall-trees is a matter worthy of con¬ 
sideration by those forming new gardens. It is well- 
known that the old plan of nailing is beset with evils. 
The continual expense of nails, the slowness ot the 
process, and the wear of the wall through an annual 
repetition, all conspire to hold it forth as a practice 
unworthy of the age. Yet it must be admitted that 
nailing is more protective to the blossom tlian tying on 
a detached trellis; for who has not observed young 
Apricots or Peaches “swelling-off” close to-the wall, 
when those projecting have been destroyed? This is a 
great fact; and before nailing is utterly given up^ an 
equivalent in this respect should be obtained. The 
same advantage, also, is connected with the ripening 
of the fruit and wood in autumn. Horizontal wires, 
strained through fixed studs in the wall, have been in 
vo^ue sometime, and on south aspects, at least, there 
can be little doubt of their success. How far they may 
succeed on cooler aspects, in our northern counties, is a 
matter about which some little doubt remains. To be 
sure, a systematic mode of protection will obviate the 
evil, but, I fear, not every one can surround their 
garden with conservative walls. As, however, in the 
course of these papers, it will be necessary to discuss 
this division of fruit-culture, I will endeavour to show 
what is practicable in that way. Those who are about 
to adopt the system of training on parallel wires must 
see to the fixing of studs at proper distances. The 
wires may be horizontal, and from six to eight inches 
apart: it is not well to have them closer, as shoots 
netting behind through neglect are sometimes difficult 
to get back. Probably, about one-and-a-balf inch from 
the°wall will be found a proper distance. 
R. Errington. 
MEETING OF THE HORTICULTURAL 
SOCIETY.— 5th April. 
Another very crowded meeting, a room full of plants, 
and fruit, and flowers, and a Scotch mist hanging over 
London at noon, which drove me for shelter into 
Covent Garden, and to Mr. Stephens’s great sale-room, 
where, of all the noises in this turbulent world, I found 
this room the most full of noise, for the noise-makers 
were regularly packed up to the very ceiliug. One set 
of cocks crowing at the full stretch of their lungs, 
