50/LS AND CULTIVATION IN THE FLOWER GARDEN. 287 



the galvanised iron church and the ironmonger's fence, which is no 

 fence our gardens have been invaded by galvanised wire, which is 

 put up at great expense on garden and house walls, and is thought 

 to be an essential improvement in all new work. The question 

 does not merely concern walls for climbers round the house, but 

 also walls in the fruit garden. In our cold country we cannot 

 ripen the Peach or the choicer fruits without the aid of walls ; 

 galvanised wire is used in many gardens, but many growers discover 

 that its effect on the trees is not good. There is a foundation of 

 fact in these complaints, and they are common to French and English 

 gardeners. In France, where the cultivation of wall fruit to supply 

 the market with Peaches and fine winter Pears is carried out well,, 

 the best growers are against the use of galvanised wire, and think 

 it much better to have the wooden lattice only against the wall ; 

 so they keep to the older and prettier way of trellising the wall. 

 For those who care about effect this is well, for whatever harm 

 the wire may do to the tree, of its ugliness there can be no doubt. 

 The old French and English way of fixing branches to walls 

 with trellis-work made of Oak in about i-inch strips was a 

 very good one. Chestnut was thought to be the best, and is often 

 used now in France. One advantage of such woodwork is that 

 it looks well on the walls even before we get our plants up, and 

 there is the great facility of being able to tie where we wish, thus 

 avoiding the use of nails and the other miseries of training 

 against walls. 



There remains the question of fixing our lattice-work of Oak, 

 Chestnut, Pine, or Bamboo. In old walls holdfasts must be driven ; 

 in new ones pieces of iron with strong eyes should be laid along 

 here and there in the courses of brick or stone as the work 

 goes on. 



It is a great thing to be relieved from the ugliness and injury of 

 the galvanised wire. We would like to go a little further and keep 

 to old ways of tying things on walls. Those who look through their 

 bills may perhaps come upon items, and not small ones, for tarred 

 twine and other means of tying. In old times the shoots of the 

 Yellow Willow did the work of tying fruit trees to walls better than 

 any tarred twine as far as the main branches were concerned. To- 

 say that it is impracticable now is nonsense, as in some great nurseries 

 where millions of plants are sent out every year, every lot is tied with 

 Willow. The French way of using a Rush for tying, instead of 

 twine or matting, is an excellent one. It is a Rush which is 

 harvested and dried carefully, and it is the simplest thing in 

 the world to tie with so as to allow for the free growth of the branch, 

 and yet keep the shoot quite secure. 



