August 28 . 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
389 
expressed to me such high eulogiums on the beautiful 
Ivy verges to the beds of flowers in the gardens of the 
Louvre. These verges would appear to range from two 
to four feet in width, and separated the beds of flowers 
from the surrounding gravel. The Admiral told me that 
all the world, and especially the English portion of it, 
were full to overflowing about the beauty of these green 
verges of Ivy ; and that if I did not do something in the 
same way with Ivy, I should be behind everybody. The 
Ivy was taken every care of, and not a leaf allowed to 
remain out of place. The kind used was called the 
Irish Ivy; but for our moister climate, some of the 
smaller-leafed kinds would be more appropriate. In the 
clear, dry atmosphere of Paris, where a green, carpeted 
lawn would be a rarity in the dog-days, these Ivy verges 
may be more striking here than with us; though here 
they would always be pleasing. Every case I recollect 
of seeing Ivy and flowers associated, the effect was 
agreeable. I have seen hundreds of ladies admiring, 
and investigating the modus operandi of hillocks, or 
baskets of flowers, formed simply by driving rough pieces 
of wood into the grouud, covering them with Ivy, and 
tilling the space within with earth and plants, having 
some of the outside rows of the latter of such a cha¬ 
racter as to interlace a little with and fall over the Ivy. 
At — Busk’s, Esq , near Codicote, Welwyn, I lately 
saw a nice Ivy basket on the lawn. Originally, a basket 
had been made, with one central stem to support it, 
and against this Ivy had been planted, trained up 
and round the basket. The original basket has long 
been gone, but the Ivy retains the shape, and bears, 
without flinching, the weight of the earth and plants. 
The diameter of the basket being, so far as I recollect, 
something about four feet. 
Some gentlemen, when a wide verge of Box has been 
alluded to as a substitute for grass, have shrugged their I 
shoulders; not merely at the first expense, but as a 
leaping out of the frying-pan into the fire principle, 
merely from the labour of scissor-clipping alone. Now, 
for such verges, I would as soon employ a bevy of grass¬ 
hoppers as the parapharnalia of horizontal scissors, 
level stakes, and lines. Many labourers would dress 
the Box in a kitchen-garden, sides and top and all, 
while a particular clever fellow was getting his lines 
and scissors in clipping order. For such broad verges, j 
the man who can make a scythe tolerably sharp, and 
keep a stiff wrist at the handle, will find no difficulty in 
shaving it as level as he would do a piece of lawn. 
In the neighbourhood of well-kept lawns, I fear there 
will be more than a prejudice for grass verges. The i 
trouble and expense they occasion are unquestionable; ; 
but a lawn of any size is also an expensive affair. To 
keep it in first-rate order will require rolling and mowing 
once a week. An extensive lawn is often, to the 
gardener, an extensive annoyance. If his employers 
are constantly at home, kept nice it must be, however 
other things may come in with short attentions. If 
ever I feel a spice of envy, it is when I walkover a snug 
little place where the lawn is of the smallest possible 
dimensions. The troubles of flower-beds and cropped 
kitchen quarters are a mere bagatelle to the ever¬ 
present and never-seen work of a lawn. I say never 
seen , because few of the gentry like to walk much about 
until the whole of the grass is swept up and gone. 
Beautiful though it may look to-day, an equal amount 
of labour must be spent to cause it to look as well eight 
days hence; as veil, not a bit better. In a flower-group, 
there is not only far less labour, but there are continual 
changes to please and delight. In the kitchen-garden, 
there is the produce to be seen and realised, as the result 
of labour. To the uninitiated, the soft Turkey-carpeted 
lawn is a rich luxury; to the gardener, with limited 
labour power, it is a fathomless abyss that threatens to 
swallow up everything else, aud yet cry for more. 1 
have known instances of reductions telling upon kitchen- 
gardens and flower-beds. I would sooner let a part of ! 
large lawns go comfortably “to grass." A neglected I 
kitchen-garden, even for a year or two, will entail ' 
additional labour for many years to come. A lawn 
from which hay is taken will get round in a season 
or two. 
MOWING MACHINES. 
The mowing machines have lessened the expense of 
lawns. Where horse-machines can be used, as atKew, ; 
or on the large expanse of turf at Luton Hoo, the ex- ■ 
pense must be greatly diminished. Even the small j 
hand-machines, held by one man and drawn by another, ; 
are a great saving of labour; and, provided the ground 
is free from hollows, such small ones can go round and 
between beds in a way that no scythe can do. For 
verges, the small machines are also most useful. You 
get rid of the “ dod-doding ” of the mowing and the 
sweeping; the grass is cut and thrown into the box, i 
nearly as last as two men can walk. It is hard, how- | 
ever, to satisfy people. Numerous inquiries have been 
put to me,—where they could get “ a machine that one j 
man could work?—and if any advertisements represent¬ 
ing single-handed machines are to be depended on?’’ All j 
I can say is, that I should not like to work the smallest 
I have seen ; and the smaller they are, from the thin- j 
ness of the knives, the more liable are they to get out 
of order. To cut well and regularly, the holder must 
get into the knack of regulating with a firm wrist, and 
that will prevent him putting forth great pushing power. 
I have little faith in any machine that does not require 
the assistance of a man or a stout boy to draw. When 
two men work such a hand-machine on a lawn, or 
among beds, great relief is obtained by their changing 
places. When the grass is dry, and other tilings favour¬ 
able, two men will thus mow more of a lawn than six 
men with their scythes and brooms ; and, on verges, they 
would do very much more. 
A gentleman, some time ago, told me that he thus 
managed the mowing of his verges cleverly; but there was 
still a vast amount of annoyance with the clipping aud the 
getting up of the grass on the sides, it got so entangled 
among the little stones and the worm casts, &c. As 1 
expected, the walk was a regular rounded one; high 
crown and low ditch-like sides, on which, if two people 
walked abreast, they would experience something of the 
high-leg or low-leg sensation the landsman feels when 
he strides along the deck of a vessel having one of its 
sides well elevated and the other side touching the 
waves. The walk was levelled, so as to bring the sides 
within an inch of the top of the verge. The border- 
side was also elevated in a similar manner. This per¬ 
mitted of the verge being mowed several times, without 
cutting the sides with the scissors; as when the grass 
grew two or three inches over the walk, so little was the 
walk beneath it, as to seem like a mere widening of the 
verge. This was a gain so far, but not quite sufficient. 
The length of the grass, when cut, permitted of its being 
easily gathered up by band in a basket. Still, a few 
blades would escape, and there was no getting them 
out of the shingly gravel, of which the walks were com¬ 
posed. To solidify that gravel, it was firmly rolled, 
watered with thickish clay-water near the sides, rolled 
again, and daubed over with sharpish sand, and rolled j 
again; and since then there has been no difficulty, ! 
except from a number of worm heaps which were ; 
stopped first by lime-water, and then by salt thrown 
along the sides. The sides of the walk thus being very 
smooth, there is no difficulty in getting up every stray 
blade of grass, either by means of a hair-broom, or a 
fine birch-broom that has lain in water twenty-four 
hours before using, so as to render it pliant and soft. 
I Without such contrivances, a man must, indeed, have 
