DEFENCE OF ESPALIERS. 91 



gether, on account of their stiff and formal appear- 

 ance, it may be proper to say something for their 

 admissibility before giving directions for their cul- 

 ture. It will be found that much of the bad effect 

 complained of arises either from the undue height 

 to which they are carried, or a great degree of un- 

 neatness in the mode of training. The straight 

 lines in which they are planted cannot surely be 

 urged as a valid objection, seeing that the espalier 

 row has no more fault in this respect than the wall 

 to which it is parallel, or the walk that lies between 

 both ; and if straight lines must be banished from 

 the garden, then peas must be sown broadcast, 

 potatoes must not be drilled, and we ourselves 

 must walk crooked, either in a stooping posture or 

 in a serpentine direction, in order to please the eye, 

 Let the height of your rails, supposing your garden 

 not to exceed the usual dimensions, be no more 

 than enough to accommodate five branches, trained 

 horizontally, and nine inches apart. Erect no 

 heavy and green-painted woodwork, but rather let 

 the trees themselves be the prominent objects con- 

 stituting a green and flourishing wall, sustained 

 only by the slender tops of peeled larch, which may 

 be suffered to fall away one by one, as the branches 

 acquire strength for their own support. Such a 

 line of fruit or blossom, instead of proving incon- 

 sistent with beauty, has rather a good effect ; serv- 

 ing, like a picture frame, to give completeness, by 

 a rich and beautiful boundary, to the flower border 

 which usually runs between the gravel walk and 

 the espalier row. 



