746 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. R uxt III.
B o o k . III. ARRANGEMENT OF WALL FRUIT TREES.
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is a binding sort of it that docs very well ; but lay not any of it too thick, as it is the
less firm for it. Drift-sand is a good substitute for gravel. Coal-ashes, strewed tluTily in
the alleys, are better than nothing, as they at least serve to keep tho feet dry and clean.
I f the garden be a strong soil, tliese ashes (when worn down) should be tlirown out of
the walks, with a little of the earth, and will prove a good manure for the compartments.”
(Introd. to Gard., p. 35.) A binding sand, Forsytli says, “makes good walks, and they
ai’C easily kept ; for when moss or weeds begin to grow, they may be cleaned with a
horse-hoc, or scuffled over witli a Dutch hoe, in dry weather, and raked a day or two
after, by wliich they will be made always to look ncaÆ and clean. I, however, give the
preference to sea-coal ashes, wliich, in my opinion, make the best walks fur a kitchcn-
garden ; and they are easier kept than any others, being firm and dry, and cleaner to
walk on than sand, especially after frost.” Sand may be made to bind by mixing it
with pulverised clay. Loose water gravel, gravel from the sea-shore, which is commonly
mixed with decayed shells, and, in short, every description of loose stony material, may
be consolidated into one compact mass, by being mixed with such a proportion of burnt
clay, in powder, as will fill up all the interstices. The clay may be burnt in heaps with
faggot wood, by any gardener or common labourer ; or on a very lai-ge scale in movable
kilns, such as ai’C described in our Encyclopædia o f Agriculture. Wlicre a walk is
ah-cady laid with loose gravel, something may be done towards rendering it firm, by
strewing tlie surface with powdered clay before heavy rains ; or, by strewing it with
Roman cement and powdered clay, or sand, and washing it in by copious waterings from
the rose of a watering-pot.
2852. Grass walks may do where gravel is scarce; but the latter is so clearly preferable,
that, except for a little variety in large gardens, where there are many walks, grass walks
will hardly be made choice of, as they are troublesome to keep in order ; and if much
used are apt to get bare, and out of level, especially when narrow : they arc also frequently
damp to the feet. Chamomile has been used also to foi-m gi-cen or carpet walks,
planting it in sets about 9 in. or 10 in. asunder ; which naturally spreading, the i-mincrs
arc fixed by walking on them, or rolling.
2853. Asphalte ivalks are found very useful in kitchen-gArdens, as they are always
dry and hard ; and though they arc expensive at first, they will last many years, without
requiring the slightest repair.
2854. Edgings to walks are essential to the beauty and completeness o f a kitchen-garden,
though, in some cases, verdant edgings are dispensed with. According to Marshall, the
borders should have their outer edges, in contact with the walks, made up fiim and even.
Where the design or intimate communication with the house requires edgings, box is
superior to every thing else. In extensive kitchen-gardens, edgings of vegetables, par-
ticulai-ly of box, arc dispensed with as inconvenient, and apt to hai-bour slugs. At
the same time the margins of the beds and main walks should be kept even and well
defined ; for this pui-pose, nothing is more neat and lasting, or better fitted to save trouble,
than narrow edgings of brick a single course wide. In the interior compai-tments, parsley
may be sown for an edging ; or slips of thyme, winter savory, hyssop, and other aromatic
herbs, may be planted ; and as long as such herbs flourish, or remain ungathered,
they form a verdant edging, in character with the kitchcn-gardcn. (Introd. to Gard.,
p. 5.) Border-edgings, Neill observes, are not in use, except for the walks next
the walls, and the cross walks in very largo gai-dcns ; for these, dwarf-box is almost
universally employed.
2855. In laying out the slip or exterior area o f the kitchen-garden, those parts not occupied
as the melon or compost-ground are disposed of in two borders : the one for fruit,
surrounding the wall, and of suitable breadth and composition as to soil ; the other next
the boundary, of such breadth as the width of the slip allows. The walk between these
borders should, in gardens of one or more acres, be made of sufficient width to admit an
one-horse cart to make the circuit of the garden, so as to bring in manures, soils, fuel,
&c., to any of the wall-doors, for the pui-pose of hcing wheeled into the inner garden.
The outer border is commonly occupied by low fmit shrubs, or common kitchen crops ;
but in small places, and where the garden is of a mixed cliai-actcr, it is arranged as a
shrubbery ; and, where Forsyth’s advice is taken, the shrubs ai-e mixed with the more
hardy fruit trees.
2856. A reserve and nursery department should always be formed in the slip, -at
least in gardens where any thing like beauty or pci-fcction is aimed at. The use of this
compartment is to preserve or raise plants, some in pots, others in the open ground, to
supply vacancies within the walls. Whatever crop is sown or planted in the garden, a
small portion of it should, a t the same time, be sown or planted in the nursing department,
some in pots, and others in the open ground ; by which means, when any blanks
occur in the former, they can be filled up from the latter. One part of this department
sliould be devoted to propagating fruit trees and fmit shrubs for the same purpose, and
also for giving away to poorer neighbours, and for stocking cottage and farm gardens.
2857. Tke best seasons for forming a garden arc the spring and summer; but, at all
events, at whatever time the operations arc begun, they sliould be arranged so as to be
ii nished early in autumn, to admit of planting the Iruit trees and laying the edges of the
walks at that season, or very early in the spring.
C h a p . II.
O f the Distribution o f Fruit Trees in a Kitchen-garden.
2858. To select and arrange a proper collection o f fru it trees, aiM plant them in thcir
appropriate situations, is the next step in forming a kitchcn-garden. This subject naturally
comprehends, 1. Wall trees; 2. Espaliers axvX dwarf standards for the borders ;
3. Standards for the compartments; 4. Fruit shrubs. As a point of practice common
to each of these divisions of fruit trees, wc may mention that of registering tlieir names,
cither in series (1809.) on a plan of the garden, or by reference to numbers attached to
the trees, cut in tallies placed by them, stamped in lead and hung on them, nailed to tho
wall or cspalicr-rail, or written on labels of different kinds, &c. With respect to the
varieties of fruits recommended in the sections of this chapter, those who consider them
as too limited will find ample choice in our Horticultural Catalogue, Chap. IX.
Sect. I. O f the Selection and Arrangement o f Wall Fruit Trees.
2859. Fruit trees adapted fo r walls may be considered in regai-d to the sort of fruit,
sort of plant, distance, and planting.
2860. With respect to ihe sorts o f fruit and their distribution on ihe different aspects of
the walls, the first general principle is, that the more delicate species of trees, as the
grape, fig, and peach, ai’C planted against the warmest w alls; the next is, that tlic more
delicate varieties of the more hai-dy fi-uits, as the clicn-y and pcar, are placed against
warm walls; and the last, that such varieties of the liardy fruits as it is desired to ripen
very early, find a place there. The best border and wall, says Abercrombie, should
be allotted to the vine, the peach, nectarine, fig, and ap rico t; let the vine take the first
jilace for aspect, as in Britain it is difficult to bring it to ripen out of doors north of
London. Wliere the peach, nectarine, fig, and apricot cannot have a south aspect, the
south-east and south-west are the next best. Some early sorts of the apricot will ripen
on an east or a west wall. Tlie west is the middling exposure, and by no means on a pm-
with the cast. The cherry, in general, may have an cxposm-c looking to any point of
the compass, except full north, yet choice early kinds deserve a south border, nor do they
attain the climax of perfection without. The morello cherry, the pcar, the plum, the
apple, and the mulberry will do on any w a ll; but all late fruit is universally improved
in proportion to the goodness of the aspect, from the west and cast tlirough all the intermediate
points to the so u th ; and some of the liigh-flavourcd French pears require, to
grow in perfection, a high wall and a good aspect. The end of a building is a good
site for a free-growing pear tree ; which, if a garden wall be not uncommonly high, will
require a deal of lateral room. F ig trees also require a long and high wall.
2861. The sorts or varieties o f fruit that may be procured at the nurseries are so
numerous as to puzzle an inexperienced person in making the selection. After all,
much is generally, aud with propriety, loft to the nm-seryinan, who recommends tho
sorts most in repute a.t the time. “ I have long made it my business,” says Nicol, “ to
persuade my employers, in the planting of new gardens and orchards, to limit the
varieties of iruit, in the firm conviction that I was acting for their interest; for certainly
the rage for multiplying them, and of having a numerous collection, has too mnch iirc-
vailcd of late. I t were better to be contented with a few good kinds that produce well
in most seasons, than to plant many sorts for the sake of variety, of wliich a crop is
obtained, perhaps, once in three or in seven years. I t is no doubt of very great importance
to select and adapt the kinds to the climate, soil, and aspect; and in some situations
a greater variety may be planted with propriety than in others. This matter must
bo determined by existing ch*cumstanccs, by the iancy of the proprietor, and by the
discretion of the gardener.” The following list kindly selected for us by Mr. Thompson,
of the Horticultural Society’s garden, than whom no man in Britain is better acquainted
with hardy fmits of every kind, exhibits an ample collection of good bearing trees, and
well-flavoured fruits. Those marked with an asterisk (*) Mr. Tiiompson considers the
most valuable Irinds, and such as should be prcfeiTcd in Ihc planting of small gardens,
where the walls arc of little extent.