1885.] VINES ON HOUSE FRONTS. 409 



VINES ON HOUSE FRONTS. 



BY LILLIAN KING. 



THE ivy-clad cottage, or vine-fronted house, lias always a plea- 

 sant aspect for the wayfarer, and to the residents of such 

 dwellings, a charm whicli is well appreciated. Sometimes other 

 climbing plants intermingle, as Virginia creeper. Wisteria, jasmine, 

 honeysuckle, etc., blending their foliage and fragrance into one 

 charming harmony. But when this sweet medley exists, it is not 

 to the advantage of the vine, which, while aiding its companions to 

 climb and cluster vip to the eaves, is prevented by them from bring- 

 ing its grapes to perfection, if indeed it bear any. 



Yet the vine may be made to liear grapes without destroying or 

 injuring its companions. The plan we have adopted may perhaps 

 best exj^lain how this can be generally accomplished. Our cottage, 

 over 50 feet long, had its front covered with ivy and vine, with 

 other creepers commingling in almost wild luxuriance, and each year 

 some gay or fragi'ant creeper was added to the tapestry of nature ; 

 but grapes were wanted, and to obtain tliem the following plan was 

 adopted. 



Along tlie i'ront of the liouse are flower-beds, 5 feet wide, then 

 a path about the same width, and a grass plot extending to the 

 lane ; on the edge nearest the lane are lime tree arcades from end 

 to end of plot. 



Along tlie outer edge of the path are iron standards about 18 

 feet apart, connected together. These standards of 1 inch square 

 iron are fixed securely into the ground ; at 5 feet high is a shoulder 

 on each standard, which serves as a bearing for the square holes in 

 the light iron rods which are intended to be the future home of the 

 grape-bearing part of the vine. These rods rise in curved arches 

 about 10 feet liigh from the ground, so as not to exclude the light 

 from the lower windows of the house; from the standards other arched 

 rods are carried over to tlie front of the house, forming ties to 

 support the whole against the pressure of the wind. 



Opposite each standard a trench, 1 foot deep, was cut through 

 the flower-bed and path from the house to the standard. This was 

 partly filled with good manure and loamy soil ; and a strong piece 

 of the vine, more than 1 '1 feet long, was taken down from the wall 

 of the house and trimmed of its lateral shoots, and bent down into 

 the trench, the ends intended for growth were trained up the 

 standards, the flower border and the path being restored as before. 



Pieces of young wood of the vine were also trained along the 



