376 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



and on a hot summer's day, if you 3it for half an hour leaning 

 against a surface treated therewith, you may find it a difficult task 

 to get away home again — you will be glued down like a limpet, and 

 when pulled off by strong friendly hands, will surely find that you 

 have left a photograph of the event in the form of a film of wood or 

 what else on the treacherous varnish. Yet one -word more. All 

 receptacles for earth, such as baskets, etc., should be pierced to 

 allow escape of surplus water, and should be coated with pitch inside. 

 So too the feet of all chairs, baskets, and so forth, should be touched 

 with hot pitch sufficient to make the sole impervious to moisture, 

 and when these are placed in positions they should stand on bricks 

 or tiles, rammed into the proper places previously. By taking 

 these precautions the life of your rustic work will be considerably 

 prolonged. 



Wire work should of all things be strong, and suited to the par- 

 ticular purpose for which it is employed. Very much of the low- 

 priced wire netting we see advertised is worse than useless, for being 

 frail and subject to decay and damage, we may some day lose all our 

 pheasants or other valuable birds that have been entrusted to its 

 keeping. 



In selecting wire netting for any particular purpose, it is a good 

 plan to have the largest mesh allowable, and to have the strongest 

 work made of that size. Generally speaking, iron rods are preferable 

 for the frame-work of an aviary to any kind of woodwork, but the 

 latter must be used more or less, and it is specially serviceable where 

 anything like ornament is attempted. Galvanized wire has its uses, 

 and is certainly not to be condemned ; but the caution may be 

 useful that the best of it will not last for ever. What is it ? No- 

 thing more than iron coated with zinc ; and consequently, wherever 

 the iron is exposed to the atmosphere, as it must be in places where 

 the wire has been cut, there oxidation takes place, and decay pro- 

 ceeds at a rapid rate. Some of the better productions are galvanized 

 after all the work of cutting and forming is complete, in order to 

 give a coating of zinc to the joinings and rivets. But this is of 

 •course impossible with works of any great extent, and those who 

 would build well are advised to finish the work with two or three 

 coats of paint, which should be renewed every third year. 



Wire netting is frequently employed to confine poultry and 

 ornamental fowls in narrow runs which scarcely deserve the name of 

 aviaries, though in strict truth they are such. In constructing 

 these, fiat roofs should never be adopted, nor, indeed, should a flat 

 roof in wire-work be employed for any purpose in the open air. One 

 heavy fall of snow, remaining a few hours on a flat wire roof, how- 

 ever strong, will be likely to weigh it down and drag the uprights 

 with it out of gear, and may even bring down the whole affair with 

 a crash, to the destruction, perhaps, of all the inmates. 



Wire baskets, and even wire flower-pots, in endless variety 

 of design, are offered by the manufacturers of garden oruaments, 

 and, generally speaking, they are good. But strength is of the 

 utmost importance, especially if they are intended to be filled with 

 earth and planted. Into such baskets we should prefer never to put 



