SUMMER-HOUSES, PERGOLAS AND BRIDGES. 



in illustration No. 384, where the pillars are built up of small pieces of black West- 

 morland slate. Although ordinary rustic work of the shapeless description is quite out 

 of place, good pergolas for the outlying portions of the grounds or a cottage path may 

 be made of unpeeled larch poles, as these allow of sound construction and definitely 

 balanced proportions. In other cases the material may be peeled but left in its natural 

 round state, peeled poles having the advantage of not harbouring insects in the way 

 those with the bark on generally do. 



Rustic In erecting a rustic pergola, the most generally useful size is about eight feet wide 



Pergolas. and the same height, placing the strong upright posts about six feet apart. Bearers 

 parallel to the path are nailed from the top of one post to that of the next, and cross 

 bearers to span the walk are laid on them, projecting at each end for about eighteen 

 inches beyond the line of posts. Climbers are then planted against the posts, and the 

 intervening spaces left open until the plants have grown to a sufficient size to be trained 



over the trellis which is subsequently placed between the posts. 

 If this trellis is inserted when the pergola is first made, it will 

 tend to create the impression of a forest of naked timber. 



The great danger to guard against in the formation of 

 such a pergola is a flimsy appearance, and one way of avoiding 

 this, is to place the posts in pairs about a foot apart. Illus- 

 tration No. 194 shows this arrangement and will provide 

 suggestions for adaptation to many varying circumstances. 



Pergolas need not always be of the usual more or less 

 long and narrow form over a path. For instance, we may have 

 a perfectly square one on a terrace near the house, for use for 

 meals in hot weather, or a semi-circular one may cover a 

 curved seat placed centrally at ^ the end of a tennis lawn or at 

 the end of a broad walk, or it may form a small arc of a 

 large circle like that shown in the heading of this chapter. 



Covered Very much the purpose of a pergola is served by the covered way shown in 



ways. illustration No. 193, which was erected by the Author to connect the house and home 



park in grounds laid out for Adam Ellis, Esq., at Stock, Essex. In positions where a 

 dry path at all seasons is required to connect the house with a garden house or smoke 

 room, or to provide a covered way from the highway to the front entrance of a 

 suburban residence, such an arrangement would be far better than a pergola with an 

 open roof. In other situations, instead of the series of brick arches, quaintly strutted 

 oak posts could support a pantile roof, or in a stone district, stone piers and lintels 

 with a green slate roof may be used, or even rough-casted arches where this material 

 covers the walls of the house. 



FIG. 194. 



152 



