Fig. 1) a dome, which may be triangular, by joining a pair of straight rafters at comb, with the 

 feet resting over each pair of posts, house fashion (as in Fig. 2), or curved pieces so as to form 

 a rounding dome (as in Fig. 3), or double curves (as in Fig. 4). In each case, a ridge or comb- 

 plate runs entirely through the top of arbor to join it all together and give it rigidity; and a 

 pair of braces at each end will be necessary to prevent collapsing. 



In the pergola, pillars of concrete or stone, or steel, will take the place of wood; and bars of 

 steel the place of the wire, and the ornamentation made to match. 



The Bed of Soil 



As the ground about the arbor can never be deeply worked after the vines are once planted 

 and occupy the soil with their roots, which extend under the ground as far or farther than the 

 vines above, it is quite important to give the vines a good start, to have made before planting, 

 a broad bed 5 or 6 feet wide, and 12 to 15 inches deep, of rich soil on each side of the arbor in 



Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 



which set the vines, as shown on page 242. Each season afterward the beds should be kept 

 free of weeds and the surface well pulverized with rake or scufflehoe. After the vines have come 

 into bearing, a top dressing of leaf mold, cow-yard manure, bone or cotton seed meal should be 

 given annually and raked in. A half-bushel of manure or leaf mold, or a peck of meal, to each 

 vine, evenly scattered over the surface of the bed, will keep the vines in fine vigor. Wood ashes 

 may be occasionally scattered over the beds to good advantage. If the vines become too rank, 

 cease fertilizing until they show by lessened growth that they need more food. 



Varieties Best Adapted for Arbor 



Varieties for arbors, especially if the arbors are high and broad, should be strong growers. 

 Weak and strong growers should never be put onto the same trellis, for the strong will overgrow 

 and choke out the weak; for example, a Delaware could never hold its own by the side of a 

 Herbemont. For broad high arbor, use the following varieties for the South to as far north as 

 Tennessee, Northern Arkansas, Northern Oklahoma, New Mexico: Herbemont, Lenoir (better 

 for arid regions), America, Cloeta, Blondin, Wine King, Carman, Muench,Fern (in moister regions, 

 as they resist rot and mildew better, but succeed equally well in the dry regions). Also, for the 

 moister regions of the South, and especially good for the extreme South, use the Muscadine 

 varieties, such as Scuppernong, Thomas, San Jacinto, Sanrubra, Sanalba. All the Muscadines 

 are entirely exempt from rot and mildew. No other class of vines should be grown on the same 

 arbor with Muscadines. Several kinds of the same class should always be grown on the one arbor, 

 as they pollinate each other better than themselves; and there should be one pair of male Mus- 

 cadine vines about the center of the Muscadine arbor. The vines on each side of the arbor should 

 be paired with the same kind opposite on the other side of the arbor, so as to maintain symmetry 

 and uniformity of growth over all parts of the arbor. 



For lower, narrower arbors, which are more suitable in the North, and where the northern 

 varieties succeed best, and are of less rampant growth, use those named previously for w r alls 

 and trees in the North. 



244 



