BOOK III. 



FIXED STRUCTURES. 



309 



are regularly spread and trained along them, are fully exposed to the light, and having 

 their branches fixed are less liable to be injured by high winds. They are formed of wood, 

 cast-iron, or wire and wood. 



1577. The wooden espalier, of the simplest kind, is merely a straight row of stakes 

 driven in the ground at six or eight inches asunder, and four or five feet high, and joined 

 and kept in a line at top by a rail of wood, or iron hoop, through which one nail is driven 

 into the heart of each stake. If the lower ends of the stakes are charred, and the sort 01 

 wood be larch, oak, ash, or birch, with the bark adhering, they will last for many years ; 

 but stakes of young Scotch pines or poplars lose their barks and soon decay. Young larch- 

 trees are much the most durable. 



1578. The framed wooden espalier rail is composed of frames fitted with vertical bars at 

 six or eight inches asunder, which are nailed on in preference to mortising, in order to 

 preserve entire the strength of the upper and lower rails. The end styles or uprights of 

 the frame are set on stone piers, and attached and kept upright by irons leaded into the 

 stone. This is the most frequent mode of construction, but sometimes the frame is fitted- 

 in with lattice-work, or wire, or stout laths ; and instead of stones, oak posts, or posts of 

 fir charred, are driven into the ground, to which to attach the styles of the frames. 



1579. The cast-iron espalier rail, 

 (Jig. 248:) resembles a common street 

 railing, but it is made lighter. The 

 columns or styles may either be fixed 

 in oak or stone (a, a) ; or, when this 

 mode is not adopted, to form their 

 base in the shape of a reversed j,, 

 setting them on a foundation of four- 

 inch brick- work. Such espalier rails 

 have been tried in Scotland (Caled. 

 Mem. i. 483.), and found to come 

 somewhat cheaper than wooden ones ; 

 but their great advantage must be 

 their durability, (especially when well 

 painted, or oiled, whilst the iron is 

 hot,) and the elegance of their appear- 



248 



' 



-= - _^ 



1580. The horizontal espalier rail (Jigs. 249, & 250.) is a frame of wood or iron, of any 

 form or magnitude, and either detached or united, fitted in with bars, and placed horizon- 

 tally, at any convenient distance from the ground. For dwarf trees the common height is 



249 



three feet, and for standards, six feet. In the latter case, the frames may be arched, and 

 the trees trained so as to form a bower, covered way, &c. These have not been much used, 

 nor, from the loss of ground, and the too violent constraint on the tree, is it likely thev 

 will ever become general. 



1581. The oblique espalier rail is composed of frames of bars, wires, or lattice- work, 

 placed obliquely. (Hort. Trans. App. to vol. ii.) Trees will no doubt thrive well, 

 trained on such surfaces, but, unless they run north and south, one side will be of little 

 use ; and even running north arid south, they can only enjoy half the day's sun. The 

 ground too under them, unless used as a walk, must be in a great degree lost, so that 

 these rails are on the whole inferior to the commo/i sort. 



1582. Of Jixed structures, the brick wall, both as a fence, and retainer of heat, may be 

 reckoned essential to every kitchen-garden ; and in many cases the mode of building them 

 hollow may be advantageously adopted. 



X 3 



