CLIMBERS AND THEIR ARTISTIC USE. 135 



these are at hand. In the gardens in the neighbourhood of Rome, 

 Naples, and Florence there are beautiful examples of the pergola 

 stately structures, the supports of which are massive columns of 

 stone covered and festooned with Banksian Roses, Wistaria, Periploca, 

 Clematises, Honeysuckles, Passion Flowers, scarlet Trumpet Flowers, 

 and other climbers which form cool retreats in the hot days. But 

 such pergolas seldom occurred outside the gardens of the great villas, 

 and near humbler dwellings the pergola was usually a simple struc- 

 ture made for the purpose of supporting the Grape Vine, and nearly 

 always pretty. 



These creeper-clad covered ways should usually lead to somewhere 

 and be over a frequented walk, and should not cut off any line of view 

 nor be placed near big trees, especially such trees as the Elm, whose 

 hungry roots would travel a long way to feed upon the good soil that 

 the climbers should be planted in. A simple structure is the best. 

 The supports, failing the Italian way of making posts of stone also 

 seen, by the way, in gate-posts in Northern England should be Oak 

 tree stems, about 9 inches in diameter, let into the ground about 2 

 feet ; the better if on a bed of concrete. The posts must be connected 

 and firmly secured to each other by long pieces along the sides, 

 while the top may be formed of smaller pieces to make a firm structure. 

 On no account let the " rustic " carpenter begin to adorn it with the 

 fantastic branchings he is so fond of. 



TREES SUPPORTING CLIMBERS. Instead of trusting to wire and 

 ugly posts or the many artificial ways for supporting climbers, why 

 should we not do as the Italians and people of south Europe do, use 

 living trees to carry the vine or climber. Weeping trees of graceful 

 leaf and form might be used in this way with fine effect. Abroad 

 they take for this purpose any kind of tree which happens to be near 

 and keep it within bounds, and those who know our garden flora 

 may select trees which, while beautiful themselves, will not be much 

 trouble to keep in bounds, like the weeping Cherry, weeping Aspen, 

 some Willows even, and any light leaved weeping tree would be 

 charming for its own sake as well as for what it might carry. Some 

 of them might even be beautiful in flower, and there would be no 

 trouble in getting creepers to run over them. 



LIGHT ARCHES OVER WALKS. When a quiet walk leads 

 from one part of the garden to another, and that walk is spanned 

 at intervals with slender iron or other light arches clothed with 

 Honeysuckle, Clematis, or Jasmine, it gives an added grace to the 

 walk. This also is a delightful way of framing, so to say, a flower 

 border, the light arches springing up from the line of the trellis, which 

 should be used to cut off the borders from the kitchen garden. 



ANNUAL AND HERBACEOUS CLIMBERS. However rich we may 



