PERGOLAS 43 



form a good substitute ; squared posts may also be used, 

 but these would look decidedly formal, and would savour 

 overmuch of the carpenter. 



Where brick is employed, though this is rarely successful 

 unless the pergola is in sight of the house or connected 

 with mural work, preference might be given to the large, 

 rough bricks often used for walls on outlying parts of 

 the property. They are considerably more artistic than 

 the ordinary builders' bricks, and have the additional 

 advantage of being very much cheaper. Red bricks 

 should not be used in the construction of a pergola, as 

 there are few climbers which harmonise at all well with 

 them, and the colour is opposed to all idea of coolness, 

 which is so important a consideration with this particular 

 structure. In pergolas of some size, it is occasionally de- 

 sirable to form recesses down the sides, in which a garden 

 seat or simple bench may be placed ; this helps to relieve 

 the straightness of the outer walls, and at the same time 

 preserves the inside vista from being broken. Ornamental 

 pillars are both undesirable and unnecessary, except where 

 the pergola is constructed over a terrace walk, with an 

 ornamental balustrading running the whole of its length. 

 Any attempt at rusticity would here be quite out of 

 place, and the structure of the pergola must closely follow 

 the lines of the architectural design of which it is to form 

 a part. Such pergolas, however, are rarely heavily clothed 

 with plants, and are employed more for their handsome 

 appearance, than as a support for climbers. 



In more or less isolated parts of the grounds, where 

 there is no need to emphasise the pergola too strongly, 

 good use may be made of larch poles for constructing 

 quite simple designs. The stoutest poles should be used 

 for uprights, and to ensure rigidity, sunk a couple of feet 

 into the ground. They would last much longer if they 

 were surrounded in the soil with cement grouting, 

 which would prevent the damp from undermining their 



