INTRODUCTION 5 



but pretty, but with the pergola we can allow the plants 

 their freedom, and there is the advantage of being able to 

 see all round, under, and over them. 



Many people have tried to form pergolas with deplor- 

 able results. People who should know better make per- 

 golas with battens of Pine, Spruce, and rustic work, which 

 begin to rot soon after they are put in. Fooling about 

 with sap-wood simply means waste of time and means. 



A pergola should be a want. To make it for the sake 

 of making it is sure to end badly. Having fixed on a good 

 position, the next thing is to give it good legs to stand on. 

 No wooden supports, even the best, are much use. Some 

 old stubs will last a long time, but they are not nearly as 

 good as the old way of brick and stone. If it is to be 

 heavily laden with climbers, a pergola must be well sup- 

 ported. A 14-inch brick pillar makes the best support, or 

 one of stone. It is not enough to have strong pillars they 

 must be braced together ; that is, the timbers must cross 

 from one side to the other, and from one pillar to another. 

 For the smaller timbers much will depend on the weight 

 the pergola has to carry, but generally a simple and strong 

 way of fixing is the best. Close rectangular trellising 

 never looks well, and it will not last. The best way is that 

 of the old French and English of using oak and chestnut 

 battens fixed not too closely, or according to a definite 

 plan, as in the modern Frenchman's garden. 



We have tried every form of Bamboo and cane, and the 

 effect at first was good, but in the end it did not do half 

 as well as native Oak and Chestnut. There may be some 

 more enduring tropical wood, but for the present we keep 

 to these native woods. To show the need of bracing the 

 pillars, I may say that when I made the garden of the 



