74 GARDENS : THEIR FORM AND DESIGN 



as it can be carried out by the amateur, come from long 

 study of the Italian hillside vineyard. What we usually 

 see there are terraces, supported by roughly built stone 

 walls. Against these walls are planted the vines, and 

 then, when they have reached the top, they are trained 

 forward upon sticks projecting from the wall, and thus 

 form an overarching roof towards the front of the terraces. 



All the trellises are square- mesh, not lozenge-shaped, 

 and this gives a restful line. What we notice is that the 

 uprights are much stouter than those usually erected in 

 our small English gardens. They are of chestnut-wood, 

 and sawn square. 



Sometimes rough-hewn granite blocks, chipped to look 

 square, are used instead of wood, slender poles then 

 filling in the sides and forming the horizontal cross-pieces. 

 What look very bright and Italian are uprights of plaster- 

 work, or possibly of brick, with rough-cast over them. 

 These pillars are about twelve inches square and twelve 

 feet high, but the exact dimensions depend upon the 

 height of other buildings near. The wooden beams that 

 form the roof rest upon the pink-coloured uprights. 



It is the fine solidity of the square pillar that we 

 admire, as compared with the somewhat tawdry, undigni- 

 fied look of larch or fir poles. Even dull grey-black 

 railway-sleepers, employed in this way, make useful 

 background for creepers. There is a feeling of strength 

 and durability about them, and a small town garden 

 could be made really fascinating in colour by the use of 

 such old tarred wood as uprights to train creepers on. 

 How well grey-blue clematis or scarlet clematis coccinea 

 would look twined round them ! Then, too, logan- 

 berries and hailsham -berries have quite an Italian, a vine- 

 like, look about their leaves, and they quickly cover 

 any woodwork. Bamboo canes can always be put 

 between the tarred wood and the creeper, should contact 



