FENCES. sd 
the architecture of the building ; 
and these walls may have piers at 
regular distances, terminating in 
vases, or other architectural orna- 
ments, provided these are in harmony 
with the house. These walls, and 
indeed all other architectural fences, 
should be varied with shrubby plants 
planted against them, so as to har- 
monize them with the plants in the 
beds and borders within. 
Hedges may either be of ever- 
greens, neatly cut, so as to form 
living walls with standard plants at 
regular distances, to imitate architec- 
tural piers ; or they may be formed 
of a mixture of different kinds of 
flowering shrubs, with evergreen 
standard low trees at regular dis- 
tances. No plant makes a finer 
flower-garden hedge than the box, 
the standards in which may be 
formed of Cypresses, Junipers, or 
Arbor Vite. On a larger scale, the 
Holly makes an excellent hedge, 
and the standard may be of the 
variegated kinds of Holly. 
beautiful evergreen, as well as the 
English and Portugal Laurels, is 
too tender for this purpose in the 
Northern States. 
Arbor Vitz is perhaps the best sub- 
stitute for it—Ep.] 
hedge of evergreens and deciduous 
flowering shrubs, the Laurustinus, | 
the Sweet-Brier, the Pyracantha, | 
and the Cydonia japonica, with | 
similar shrubs, may be used, with | 
the lower kinds of American thorns 
(Crate\gus), or the Chinese Crab 
(Py‘rus spectabilis), as standards. 
A very excellent flower-garden 
hedge may be formed by training 
the common or the Giant Ivy over 
a slight wire fence or trellis (fig. 18) ; 
and its uniformity may be broken, 
if it is very long, by standards, at 
regular distances, either of Ivy, 
trained on iron posts with umbrella 
tops, or of any kind of low deciduous 
evergreen trees. The variegated 
species of Ivy, the Ampelopsis, and 
206 
[This | 
The American | 
For a mixed | 
FERNS. 
| a number of other climbing shrubs, 
ligneous or herbaceous, also make 
beautiful hedges for shelter or sepae 
ration in flower-gardens. The Arbor 
Vite and common Laurel, alterna- 
ting with the variegated variety, the 
narrow-leaved variety, and the Por- 
Fig. 18.— Wire Fence. 
| tugal Laurel, also make excellent 
flower-garden fences; as do the 
evergreen and variegated kinds of 
Privet, the variegated Holly, and the 
Aucuba. In short, there is scarcely 
any ornamental shrub that will not 
form a very suitable fence for a 
flower-garden, when carefully train- 
ed; and wire-fences, in the summer 
season, may be covered with creep- 
ing or climbing annuals ; such as 
the Nasturtium, the Convolvulus, 
&c., or even the tall-growing Salvias, 
Petunias, Sweetpeas, and Pelargo- 
niums. A very pretty fence of this 
| kind may be formed by training the 
common Mignonette over a wire 
trellis; as it is well known that the 
| Mignonette, if sown in autumn and 
|kept during the winter in a green- 
house, may be trained the following 
season to the height of three or four 
feet. Honeysuckles also make de- 
lightful fences. 
Frenne Flower.—See Nice'iua. 
Ferns are very ornamental in 
shrubberies, from their large an 
