ARCHWAYS AND TREILLAGE 31 



small cross-pieces are nailed on horizontally up the sides 

 and over the top. The larger rods should be firmly 

 secured together with screws, and the ends which are 

 bedded in the soil should be creosoted. Such an arch 

 would be excellent for covering with roses, but would 

 hardly prove so suited for clematis, honeysuckle, or 

 climbers of more slender habit. For these the iron arch, 

 just a single rod bent into the required shape, will often 

 prove quite sufficient, but a couple of struts would be 

 required on either side to keep the arch upright. In 

 exposed situations, iron arches seldom prove satisfactory, 

 for when weighted with a burden of foliage, they are 

 very liable to be blown in all directions with the first 

 high wind. Occasionally, good use may be made of 

 large sized branches to construct a simple form of rustic 

 arch. I have seen picturesque specimens constructed so 

 that the top projects for some distance over the uprights 

 on either side. The wooden gate arches before the way- 

 side temples in Japan are good models to copy, of course 

 without the carved outline which many of these display. 

 Where tree branches are employed, on no account should 

 they be covered with twigs, pieces of bark, and other 

 rustic adornments ; the simpler they are the better, the 

 great point to aim at being a good outline, not clumsy 

 in shape. Larch poles fastened securely together make 

 good arches, in fact, any durable wood may be pressed 

 into service ; with a saw, hammer, and a few nails, the 

 amateur will not find the least difficulty in constructing 

 these, the simplest forms of garden furniture. 



The positions for arches in the garden are practically 

 limited to the sides of walks, and it is only very rarely 

 indeed that an arch looks well when placed so that it can- 

 not be walked under. Arches standing on isolated spots 

 on the lawn look supremely ridiculous, yet this is often 

 done to the utter defiance of all laws of reason and good 

 taste. A succession of arches cut in a well-grown yew 



