148 



WALLS, ESPALIER-RAILS, AND TRELLIS-WORK. 



Fig. 119. 



taking off a few of these rods on one side, the reed mats can be taken 

 out and removed. Russian mats would no doubt answer very well, 

 and last a long time, and they might be taken out with still less trouble. 

 Straw mats would also do, where reeds could not be got ; and heath, 

 as being of a dark colour and very durable, 

 would make the best of all structures of this 

 kind. Peaches, grapes, and other fruits, 

 ripen just as well on these structures as on 

 brick walls, both in Holland and England. 

 The trellises at Strathfieldsaye resembled low 

 pits when we saw them in 1833, with the 

 glass on, and the peaches, apricots, and figs, 

 ripened on them about a month sooner than 

 on the open walls. 



Espalier-rails are substitutes for walls, 

 commonly placed in borders parallel to walks. 

 The commonest form is nothing more than 

 a row of perpendicular stakes driven into the 

 soil, about eight inches apart, centre from 

 centre, about five feet high, and connected 

 by a rail at top. When the stakes are of 

 larch with the bark on, or when they are of 

 oak with their lower ends charred, they last 

 five or six years ; but in general they are of 

 shorter duration, and continually requiring 

 repair. Framework of prepared timber well 

 painted, supported from the ground by 

 sockets of stone, is much more durable, and 

 still more so are espalier-rails formed en- 

 tirely of cast iron. In every case, however, 

 when either wooden or cast-iron framework 

 is used, the stones which support it ought to 

 be raised two or three inches above the 

 surface of the ground, not only because this 

 is more architectural, but because it con- 

 tributes to the preservation of the iron or 

 the wood. When the stone bases are to 

 support timber, the posts should not be let 

 into the stone, because in that case water is 

 apt to lodge and rot them ; but the stone 

 should be bevelled from the centre, and a 

 dowel of iron or wood inserted in it, so as 

 to pass into the lower end of the post. If 

 the post is let into the stone, it should 

 be set in lead, pitch, or asphalte. In our 

 ' Villa Gardener,' pp. 231 and 232, we have shown figures of two very 

 economical espalier-rails formed of hoop iron and iron wire, which 

 had been in use upwards of fifteen years, without requiring any other 



Section of a reed-watt. 



