206 THE NEW GARDENING 



years if the part to be embedded and that should be a 

 full yard is properly treated. My favourite plan is to 

 bark the base with a billhook, paint it over with coal-tar 

 from a pot heated up in readiness, and dust with sand. 

 A man will treat each piece in this way in a very few 

 minutes. He must be taught to finish off a little above 

 the part where the level of the soil will come, for that is 

 a vulnerable place. It is better to ram the lower soil 

 hard round the base of the posts, and so get them ab- 

 solutely firm, than to throw it in loosely, but the upper 

 soil may be left loose until the plants are put in. 



In the old Italian pergolas one sees a good deal of side 

 timber, but with well-filled borders these are rather a 

 disadvantage than otherwise. It suffices to have top 

 pieces. These may be set in line from post to post, and 

 at right angles, so as to cross the path ; but I think the 

 pergola looks better if pieces are also set transversely, 

 from the first left-hand post across the path to the second 

 right-hand, from the first right-hand to the second left- 

 hand, and so on throughout. When these are covered 

 there will be a canopy of verdure and blossom. 



It may be objected that if each upright has to support 

 three pieces, as it will under this arrangement, it must 

 have a very large area at the top. Short pieces of about 

 two feet long may, however, be attached as carriers for the 

 top timbers. The whole can be pinned securely together 

 with long spikes. 



A verandah should be considered as a part of every 

 new house, for in all but the coldest months it is a super- 

 numerary room, and it lends itself to floral adornment, 

 both by creepers on the pillars and by hanging baskets 

 from the roof. It may be made into a cool, airy, fragrant 

 garden-room. I do not, however, go to the extreme of 

 recommending what one sometimes sees, a verandah 



