ESPALIER-RAILS — SOIL. 25 



height of the wall will permit. One furnace will be 

 enough for a surface fiftj feet in length. When the 

 boundary walls do not furnish room sufficient for the 

 production of the finer fruits, cross walls are built 

 athwart the garden from east to west, of the same height 

 as the side walls, to which they nearly approach. They 

 are generally fined, and are sometimes furnished, on 

 their southern aspect, with sloping glazed frames, either 

 fixed or movable. These cross walls add greatly to the 

 capabilities of a fruit-garden, and are useful in afford- 

 ing additional shelter to the small fruits and crops of 

 vegetables in the culinary quarters. 



Uspalier-Mails.SuhsidiaYy to walls as a means of 

 training fruit-trees, espalier-rails were formerly much 

 employed, and they still prevail in many parts of Eng- 

 land. In their simplest form, they are merely a row 

 of slender stakes of ash or Spanish chestnut, driven 

 into the ground, and connected by a slight rod or fillet 

 at top. In some gardens the perpendicular rods are 

 fastened into two horizontal rails, supported by strong 

 posts, which are battened into stones. Cast-iron rails 

 have also been proposed. The framework is some- 

 times inclined to the horizon, or adapted to a sloping 

 bank, as in the gardens of the Earl of Selkirk, at St. 

 Mary's Isle ; where some of the trees, although so 

 trained more than sixty years ago, are still in a healthy 

 condition, bearing abundant crops of fruit. In other 

 cases the framework is placed flat like a table, and, 

 when there is plenty of room, this proves a good ar- 

 rangement. Espalier-rails, especially the more elabo- 

 rate sorts, are expensive and formal; and, therefore, in 

 many instances, have given place to dwarf standard 



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