WALLS, ESPALIER-RAILS, AND TRELLIS-WORK. 149 



repairs than that of being once coated over with gas liquor. A very 

 light and elegant espalier-rail, and perhaps the most economical of any, 

 consists of iron standards let into blocks of stone, strong wires being 

 stretched through the standards ; and at the extremities of each straight 

 length the standards are braced by stay bars, and a connecting bar 

 holding the two together ; the upper end of the stay bar being screwed 

 to the main post. The triangle thus formed at each end of a straight 

 line of trellis admits of straining the wires perfectly tight. A struc- 

 ture of this kind was first used as an espalier for trees at Carclew, in 

 Cornwall ; but it has been frequently put up in various parts of the 

 country in pleasure-grounds, to separate the lawn from the park, and 

 is now almost the only espalier used. The chief difficulty in erecting 

 this fence is to strain the wires perfectly tight ; but this may be 

 easily effected by means of the raidisseur described at pp. 93, 94, 

 95. Fences or espalier rails of this description are most easily 

 erected when in a straight line ; but by means of underground 

 braces, either of iron, wood, or stone, they may be erected on 

 any curve whatever. Where effect is any consideration, the braces 

 should in every case be concealed under ground. When trellis- 

 work is placed against walls, or against any object which it is desired 

 to conceal, it may be wholly covered by the plants trained on it ; 

 but where it is placed in any position by which it will be seen on 

 both sides (such as when it forms the supports to a verandah, or a 

 summer-house, or a trellised arcade over a walk), the surface must not 

 be entirely covered by the plants ; because it is desirable that leaves 

 and blossoms should be seen on both sides, and this can only be done 

 effectively by the partial admission of direct light through the inter- 

 stices or meshes of the trellis-work. A trellised walk closely covered 

 with the most ornamental roses will show no more beauty to a person 

 walking within, than if it were covered with the most ordinary plants ; 

 but let partial openings be made in the covering of roses, and their 

 leaves and blossoms will be seen hanging down over the head of the 

 spectator, forming a perspective of flowers and foliage, instead of one 

 presenting only the branches, and the footstalks and backs of the leaves. 

 Trellises and lattice-work are constructed either of wood or iron, 

 or of both materials combined ; and though lattice- work, by which 

 we mean trellis-work with the meshes or spaces between the inter- 

 sections smaller than is usual for the purposes of training, is chiefly 

 required in ornamental structures, yet it is occasionally used for sup- 

 porting fruit-trees, and for culinary plants, such as cucumbers. In 

 order to render trellis-work durable and architectural, it ought never 

 to rise directly out of the soil, but always be supported either by the 

 wall or frame against which it is placed, or when it is independent, 

 by bases of stone. This is almost always neglected, both in kitchen 

 and ornamental gardens, in consequence of which the construction is 

 unsatisfactory to the artistical eye, and the posts, or other parts which 

 rise out of the soil, decay long before the superstructure. Where 

 espalier-rails of this, or of any other kind, are put up in flower-gardens 



