The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life RationallyLoudon, Mrs. (Jane)
General
The Lady's Country Companion; Or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally
Loudon, Mrs. (Jane)
Cooking; Country life; Home economics
The first thing to be done when you have fixed upon your ground is
to form the _walks_, marking them out by two garden lines, and then
digging out the space between in the shape of an inverted arch, which
should be from one to two feet deep in the centre. The arch is then
partly filled in with brick-bats, stones, or any other hard rubbish
which can be procured, leaving a little hollow space exactly in the
centre to serve as a drain. Care must be taken, when filling in the
rubbish, to put the largest pieces in first, then pieces somewhat
smaller, and then pieces broken very small, which are rammed down as
hard as possible, so as to make a smooth surface immediately under the
gravel. The gravel before laying it down should be sifted, and all
pieces larger than a moderate-sized gooseberry should be thrown on
one side. As soon as the small gravel is laid down and evenly spread
it should be rolled, and this rolling should be repeated occasionally
till the walk becomes quite hard and firm. If the gravel does not bind
well, it may be improved by mixing with it powdered burnt clay, in the
proportion of one wheelbarrow full of clay to a two-horse cart load
of gravel. The clay may be burnt by making it into a heap, intermixed
with, and surrounded by, faggot wood. Gravel walks should always be
slightly raised in the middle, in order that the water may run off on
each side. If you should have an old gravel walk that wants renovating,
the gravel should be loosened with a pick, turned over, raked, and
firmly rolled, adding a coating of fresh gravel if necessary. If weeds
should appear on a gravel walk, they are best killed by watering them
with salt and water, and this liquid will prevent any other weeds from
appearing.
_Box edgings_ are the best for gravel walks, and March or April is a
good season for planting them. The following is the mode of performing
this operation, which requires some attention, as the beauty of the
edging depends on its regularity. The margin of the bed for about a
foot in breadth should be watered, and afterwards beaten firm and level
with the back of a spade; a garden line should then be stretched along
close to the walk, and a shallow trench opened, sloping towards it at
an angle of rather less than 45°. Some dwarf box having been procured
from the nurseryman, it should be divided into separate plants, and the
branches and roots trimmed, so that the plants may be nearly of a size.
These are laid along the sloping face as regularly as possible, with
their tops rising about an inch above the soil, and the earth is drawn
upon them, so as to fill up the trench and make them quite firm. The
plants are then watered, and nothing further is required but to supply
the place of any that may chance to die, and to keep the tips neatly
trimmed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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