How to Lay Out Curved Garden Beds

From The Register of Rural Affairs, 1877

Arabesque beds, require an accurate eye for designing them in the best manner; but a graceful and curved outline may be preserved by the use of a rope, the mode of working with which we here describe:

If small figures are to be laid out, the rope may be of moderate size, so as to make short curves; for large figures a larger and stiffer rope may be used. The operator places it upon the ground, and forms with it the outline of the proposed figure. Then, before beginning work, insert a few small pegs or stakes barely touching it. These will keep it at its place while the sharp spade is inserted all along its side in cutting out the bed.