i8 
THE GARDENING WORLD 
January 12, 1907. 
Why a - - 
Colour Scheme ? 
Several undoubted authorities on horti¬ 
culture have laid down the law that for 
the correct border of herbaceous plants 
there must be a scheme of colour. Thus 
Robinson, in his “ English Flower Gar¬ 
den,” devotes a chapter to this subject 
under the heading, “ Colour in the Flower 
Garden,”—the pith of which is to advise 
the reader to start one end of the border 
with purples, lilacs, and whites, merging 
graduallv into yellow and orange, then 
to bring into play the various shades of 
red, and finally to terminate with blue, a 
somewhat dangerous colour, and one to 
be relieved by dabs of white and yellow. 
All very admirable, but why this group¬ 
ing of hues in rainbow fashion. Surely 
not following the teaching of Nature, for 
to take the first instance that occurs the 
writer has often seen the purple Cam¬ 
panula next to the pink of the wild Rose 
in direct contravention of the colour 
scheme, in the hedgerow. The theory 
that I advocate is that any flowers of any 
^colour look well together on a border, 
due regard being given to height and 
foliage. Perhaps this idea may seem 
crude to -the readers of The Gardening 
WORLD, but let me give my experience. 
Some four vears ago in accordance with 
this theory of the tints, we arranged a 
border, 50 yards long, averaging 5 yards 
in width, on this plan. Our expectations 
were great, and, let the confession be 
made at once, were not realised. There 
were exceptions of course. German Iris 
and White Lupin gained by adjacent con¬ 
trast, aS did Delphinium flanked by 
Oenothera lamarckiana, but the general 
result was considered disappointing; so, 
twelve months later, when laying out a 
second border of similar dimensions to the 
first, the colour scheme was discarded, or 
at least adhered to only in isolated cases. 
The things, however, that we did pay 
special attention to were the heights and 
foliage of the plants. The borders have 
paths on either side, and though in a 
general way the tallest were grouped down 
the centre, great care was taken to arrange 
the heights naturally, and not to have all 
the small plants in front, many about 25ft. 
in growth being placed near the edge. 
The result, looking along the border, was 
a natural harmonising of the things, and 
passing up the paths hidden beauties and 
unexpected peeps were discovered. 
Then, with regard to the foliage, es¬ 
pecial care was taken to well distribute 
plants of striking appearance, such as 
Iris with sword-like leaves, the heavy look¬ 
ing Senecio clivorum, the Palm-like 
Helianthus orgyalis, Sedum maximum of 
bronzy hue, the graceful Eulalias, Linum 
perenne, and the stately Rheum palma- 
tum, thus a monotony of the more ordin¬ 
ary type of leaf was avoided. 
Again, we were careful not to make the 
patches too large of plants whose appear¬ 
ance becomes unsightly after flowering; 
the chief offender in this respect being 
Delphinium and Oriental Poppies, so we 
have the earlier floral display of the border 
followed by the quieter beauty of the leaf 
in autumn, for we leave the growths un¬ 
cut as long as possible, indeed on Nov. 
2 spikes of the Olympian Mullein, dead 
but stately, are still standing, prominent 
objects. 
Of these two borders the second was 
considered to have the more natural ap¬ 
pearance, and more admired, so no colour 
scheme pertains to a third border we are 
now engaged on. 
J. Reynolds Hole. 
Nottinghamshire. 
Value of Burned Soil. —Those who 
live in parts of the country' where clay 
forms the surface soil have learned the 
value of burning a portion of it -to improve 
the rest. The clay that is burned gives 
quantities of potash, lime, and other 
mineral elements of plant food. The 
mechanical improvement would explain, 
however, the great value of adding burned 
clay to a heavy soil. It increases the 
porosity of the soil,permitting it to become 
better aerated, and where air and rain can 
thus readily penetrate the soil, it is more 
quickly affected by the action of the sun 
when the temperature rises in spring than 
soils that are heavy, close, and retentive 
of moisture. 
-- G. W. - 
Prize Competitions. 
GENERAL CONDITIONS. —Competitors must 
write on one side of the paper only. Regular 
paid contributors to THE GARDEN ING- 
WORLD or other gardening journals are de¬ 
barred from entering, but occasional con¬ 
tributors may compete. The name and ad¬ 
dress of the competitor must appear on each 
article sent for competition. The Editor’s 
decision is final, and he reserves the right 
to reproduce, in any way,i any article or photo¬ 
graph sent for competition. The conditions 
applying to each competition should be care¬ 
fully read. 
WEEKLY 
PRIZES. 
A PRIZE OFTEN SHILLINGS will be given 
for the best paragraph or short a rticle on any 
gardening subject, such as hints of practical 
interest to gardeners, notes on the propaga¬ 
tion or cultivation of flowers, fruits or vege¬ 
tables, eradication of pests, etc. The para¬ 
graph or article must not exceed a column, but 
value rather than length will be considered in 
making the award. Hark envelopes “ Com¬ 
petition,” and post not later than the Monday 
following date of issue. Entries received later 
than Tuesday (first post) will be left over until 
the following week. 
Two prizes of 2s. 6d. will be awarded each 
week for the two best letters, not exceeding 
150 words, on any interesting gardening sub¬ 
ject. 
RESULTS OF 
LAST WEEK’S 
COMPETITIONS. 
Some of the best papers in this competition 
are too long, an i we desire readers to keep 
within a column. 
The prize in the Readers’ Competition was 
awarded to “H. W. Canning Wright” for his 
article on “Auriculas,” page 6 . 
In the Prize Letter Competition, a prize was 
awarded to “ Onion ” for his article on “ Large 
Onions ” ; and another to “ C.C.” for his article 
on “Storing Celery,” page 4. 
garden 
WALKS. 
These should have a purpose, either , to 
pass as directly as possible from one place 
to another or sweeping in bold curves to 
serve as a pleasant promenade, and allow i 
the garden to be seen to the best advan¬ 
tage. 
In making main walks and those likely 
to be much used every; precaution must 
be taken to render them fit to walk on in 
all weathers. No one can fully enjoy a 
garden while walking on a slippery or 
uneven surface. 
Walks made of asphalte or concrete are 
costlv, but if of good shape and well 
made, they are clean and dry to walk 
upon, and admirable to connect glass 
houses and sheds, and for the kitchen 
garden, though their appearance does # 
not recommend them for the pleasure - 
grounds. For such places a walk 
covered with gravel or finely-broken 
stone is more suitable. 
Supposing the ground on either side to 
have been levelled or sloped as desired, 
the centre of the walk may now be fixed 
by driving in a line of stumps. The g 
intended width of the walk can be | 
measured from these half on either side, B 
and the edges marked by driving in two 
more lines of stumps deep enough to re¬ 
main firm when the walk has been exca- 
vated to a depth of as many inches as j 
there are feet in width. 
Except on very level ground it is only : 
necessary to provide drains as an outlet 
to the catchpits; these should be placed 
at the lowest points, built of brick, and 
covered with an iron grating, the top of I 
which being one inch below the surface 
at the side of the walk. 
When drains and catchpits have been j 
put in, and edges planted with box or I 
laid with turf or tiles, the stumps at the 
centre and sides should be driven in or I 
sawn off, so that their tops represent the 
surface of the walk when finished. A 
six-foot walk should be at least two inches 
higher in the centre than at the outside. 
Fill up the excavated space with clinkers 1 
or rough stones tO' within two inches of the 
tops of the pegs, making the material 'i 
firm. Gravel or fine stones can then be 
put on, still using the pegs to level it, 
afterwards driving, them out of sight and 
using a wooden rake to make the surface 
perfectly smooth previously to rolling. 
Some gravel, if rolled when in a suit- | 
able condition (neither wet nor dry), will 
set like concrete, but if too wet will cling 
to the roller; experience soon teaches the 
operator the best condition in which to 
use it. 
Less expensive paths' are often made, 
drainage being secured -by raising them 
slightly above the surrounding ground; 
only a thin layer of stones is used, and 
these are covered with sand, gravel, or 
any material of the kind that can be oh- ■' 
tain cheaply, such as refuse from a 
brickyard, ballast, or sifted coal ashes. 1 
Such paths cannot be relied upon during 
very wet weather or a thaw after frost, i 
but are fairly clean at other times, and 
not unpleasant to walk upon. 
J.C. 
Sussex. 
