be 
PROPS. 333 
upright and may be shaded to any 
extent by the head—See Train- 
1NG. 
Wire frames for training plants 
in pots are generally painted green ; 
but a more artistical color would be 
that of stone or of the bark of trees, 
or of young rods; because green 
too much resembles nature, and the 
object in imitating nature ought 
never to be to produce such a re- 
semblance as might be mistaken for 
it. In supporting large flowers, such 
as Dahlias, or shrubs, such as stand- 
ard Roses, in the open garden, stakes 
of cast or wrought iron are frequent- 
ly used, and the color they are 
painted is almost always green ; but 
though this color abstractedly con- 
sidered is so agreeable to the eye, 
yet its use on stakes to be used 
among living plants cannot be de- 
fended as artistical. A brown col- 
or, or some tint nearer that of the 
park of rods, say those of the ash 
or hazel, would undoubtedly be in 
better taste. ‘Twining plants, such 
as the Convolvulus, are frequently 
encouraged to twine round cords 
made fast at the root of the plant 
at one end, and to a wall, horizontal 
rail, or some other fixed point or 
line, at the other. Very handsome 
screens may be formed in this man- 
ner, and also very agreeable figures, 
provided care is taken that the fig- 
ure shall not be much broader at 
the summit than it is at the base. 
An obelisk, a column, a cone, a 
pyramid, or a cross, in an open airy 
situation, may be covered so as to 
produce a very striking effect. Ar- 
cades and covered ways, formed of 
framework of wood or wire, may be 
covered with creepers of every de- 
scription, ligneous or herbaceous ; 
but the beauty of the flowers is only 
seen externally, and the advantage 
to the spectator walking beneath is 
shade alone. When shade and the 
beauty of the flowers are to be both 
enjoyed by the spectator in a cov- 
» le «(a ae 
PROTEA. 
ered walk, the covering ought to be 
produced by arches placed at regu- 
lar distances, so as to admit of the 
air and light between, by which 
means the plants will be covered 
with flowers from the ground to the 
crown of the arch. The arches 
may either cross the walk at right 
angles, or they may cross eacn 
other so that the vertical profile of 
every two arches would form a 
cross. 
Trees, after they have grown for 
some years, frequently lean to one 
side, especially such trees as the 
Judas tree, the Mulberry, the 
Pinaster, and even the Laburnum. 
These require props to set them up- 
right, and the kind requisite for this 
purpose is a wooden prop forked at 
the extremity. In like manner, the 
branches of trees sometimes split, 
or for other reasons hang down, so 
as to incommode the path or the 
surface beneath; and in this case 
the branches require to be tied to- 
gether by iron rods. 
Pro‘\rea.— Protedcee.—Singular- 
looking plants, natives of the Cape 
of Good Hope, which are very dif- 
ficult to cultivate, as their roots are 
fleshy and very apt to be injured 
either by a want of water or an ex- 
cess. They must also have abun- 
dance of light and air, and not be 
crowded with other plants. They 
should be grown in pots nearly half- 
filled with potsherds, in light turfy 
loam mixed with equal parts of fine 
silver sand, and placed in a green- 
house. Great care must be taken 
in shifting them whea ‘require 
larger p ts, as their roots are very 
brittle, and will be found to have 
entwined themselves among the 
potsherds, from which it is very dif- 
ficult to disengage them, and for 
this reason the drainage should not 
be disturbed, but transferred entire 
with the ball of earth to the new 
pot. These plants are propagated 
by cuttings taken off at a joint, anu 
