ESCALLONIA. 



163 



ESPALIERS. 



loam and peat, and are propagated by slip- 

 pings off from the root-stock, young shoots 

 which should not be cut off but be stripped 

 away from the parent plant with a heel to 

 them, and set in fine loam mixed with sand 

 over bottom heat. The best known is the 

 Coral Tree Erythrina corallodendron> 

 with racemes of deep scarlet flowers, which 

 attains an average height of 9 feet. 



Escallo'nia (nat. ord. Saxifrageae). 



Handsome evergreen half-hardy shrubs, 

 with rich glaucous leaves and bunches of 

 pretty tubular flowers. E.floribunda> with 

 white flowers, and E. maerantha, with red- 

 dish crimson blossoms, succeed against a 

 south wall, generally speaking, in the Mid- 

 land counties, and may be utilised in form- 

 ing garden hedges in the south. Any good 

 garden soil is suitable for them, but the 

 drainage should be good. Propagation is 

 effected by suckers and layers, or by 

 cuttings of half-ripened wood placed under 

 a hand-glass in sandy loam. 



Eschscholt'zia (not. ord. Papave- 

 ra'cese). 



An exceedingly showy profuse-flowering 

 class of Californian annuals, quite hardy, 

 remarkable for extremely rich and beautiful 

 colouring, and valuable for bedding, mass- 



\;v'f 



ESCHSCHOLTZIA CAL'FOKNICA. 



ing, and ribboning. The annual variety, 

 Eschscholtzia tennifolia, otherwise E. Cali- 

 fornia ccespitosa, is exceedingly neat for 

 small beds, edgings, or rock-work, and 



delights in light rich soil. E. Californica^ 

 bearing bright yellow flowers with rich 

 orange centre, is a perennial remarkable 

 for the size and beauty of its blossoms. 

 There are, however, many varieties pro- 

 duced by cultivation, which will be found 

 named in the lists of the principal seeds- 

 men. 



Espaliers. ^ 



Both natural and artificial sticks, or 

 sticks that are made by hand, may be used 

 for training trees as espaliers. When 

 natural stakes are used, they should be 

 about i inch in diameter at the bottom, 

 and i inch at the top; but when made 

 stakes are used, they should be not less 

 than 1 1 inch square throughout from top 

 to bottom. These sizes are, of course, for 

 trees ; they should be firmly set in the 

 ground at a distance of from 12 inches to 

 15 inches apart, and their height above 

 ground should be from 3 feet 6 inches to 5 

 feet, according to position and circum- 

 stances. It is not desirable that an es- 

 palier-trained tree should be more than 5 

 feet in height, and possibly many would 

 consider this too high. Apples and pears 

 are the trees that are most generally trained 

 in this fashion. Espalier training is well 

 adapted for gooseberries and currants. 

 Stakes about I inch in diameter should be 

 used, and these should be set in the soil 

 about 4 inches apart, and driven in so that 

 all may be of the same height, say, from 3 

 feet to 3 feet 6 inches above the soil. 

 When the tops are level, as they should 

 be, additional stability may be imparted to 

 them by nailing pantile laths, I inch wide 

 and \ inch thick, along the tops from end 

 to end. 



Espalier Training. 



Fruit-trees of almost all kinds especi- 

 ally apples, pears, (fee. may be trained on 

 the espalier system that is to say, on a row 



