DRY STORE WALLS

Evening Star, Issue 19778, 31 January 1928, Page 2

DRY STORE WALLS

SOME CHARMING FEATURES A charming feature of many oldfashioned gardens is the dry stone wall built without mortar and with soil laid between its stones to afford lodgment to a varied array of plants. Observing that a wall of this kind can be built even in a small garden with very little trouble, a writer in ‘Town and Country Homes’ offers a few hints on setting about the task. Firstly, tho wall must he set up ou some kind of foundation, and nowadays the best is concrete about Gin deep. This is laid in a trench about 18iu wide, dug the full length of tho wall. The concrete is made by mixing one part of Portland cement with two parts of sand and four parts of clean broken brick gravel or similar material, men-

sured by bulk—as. for instance, by tho pailful.

These must bo thoroughly well mixed, then mad© into a damp mass by the gradual addition of water and again well mixed. The concrete is then laid in the trench bottom, which should previously have been well rammed to make” it as firm as possible. The next thing to do is to collect all available pieces of stone, which can be of any local variety. The stone should be in roughly-shaped lumps—not all smooth, flat_ .pieces—as a certain number of cavities are needed to hold the mould and provide a lodgment for the plants. « Make several piles of stones distributed along tho site for the wall; one heap, say, all thin flat pieces, another heap of stones, a third of long pieces, and so on. Commence by laying the lowest course with fairly large stones, bedding them in cement mortar to make sure of a rigid base. Note also that the wall gradually gets narrower as it increases in height; in technical parlance, the wall must bo ‘‘battered” or sloped on each face. The next course of stones can then be laid in position, and are so arranged that they break joint with those in tho lower course; that is to say, the ends of stones in the upper course should com© above a solid part of tho stone beneath. The bulk of the stones are laid as “ stretchers ” —that is, long ways of the w r all—and some of the larger pieces should be reserved for use as “ bonders,” or stones which reach from front to hack of the wall, and also cover the joints between tho lower course of stones. All the stones are bedded in garden mould, and should be tapped well down and ought to lay naturally without rocking about, even if the mould were absent, as it is really only wanted for the plants, so the wall ought to be firm without the mould. The whole art of dry stone-walling lies in the arrangement of the stones, and much can be gleaned by study of existing walls of this kind. Good practice is to lay two or three courses of comparatively big stones, following this with a few more courses of larger stones, and so on, distributing bonding stones throughout the wall to keep it firm. The last, or top, course can be allowed to overhang the others a little, and is preferably laid with stones of fairly uniform thickness. Cement mortar should not be used except for the lowest course, as it has a sterilising effect on the mould and retards the growth of the plants. Test the wall occasionally by comparing it with a plumb-line, and to keep it in line from end to end stretch a thin cord along it as a guide to the eye when putting the stones in their places.