96 HORTICULTURE. 



be able to believe. What summer foliage is to a naked forest, what 

 rich tufts of ferns are to a rock in a woodland dell, what " hya- 

 cinthine locks " are to the goddess of beauty, or wings to an angel, 

 the drapery of climbing plants is to cottages in the country. 



One word or two about vines in the gardens and pleasure- 

 grounds before we conclude. How to make arbors and trellises is 

 no mystery, though you will, no doubt, agree with us, that the less 

 formal and the more rustic the better. But how to manage single 

 specimens of fine climbers, in the lawn or garden, so as to display 

 them to the best advantage, is not quite so clear. Small fanciful 

 frames are pretty, but soon want repairs ; and stakes, though ever 

 so stout, will rot off at the bottom, and blow down in high winds, to 

 your great mortification ; and that, too, perhaps, when your plant 

 is in its very court dress of bud and blossom. 



Now the best mode of treating single vines, when you have not 

 a tree to festoon them upon, is one which many of you will be able 

 to attain easily. It is nothing more than getting from the woods 

 the trunk of a cedar-tree, from ten to fifteen feet high, shortening-in 

 all the side branches to within two feet of the trunk (and still 

 shorter near the top), and setting it again, as you would a post, two 

 or three feet deep in the ground.* 



Cedar is the best ; partly because it will last for ever, and partly 

 because the regular disposition of its branches forms naturally a fine 

 trellis for the shoots to fasten upon. 



Plant your favorite climber, whether rose, wistaria, or honey- 

 suckle, at the foot of this tree. It will soon cover it, from top to 

 bottom, with the finest pyramid of verdure. The young shoots will 

 ramble out on its side branches, and when in full bloom, will hang 

 most gracefully or picturesquely from the ends. 



The advantage of this mode is that, once obtained, your sup- 

 port lasts for fifty years ; it is so firm that winds do not blow it 

 down ; it presents every side to the kindly influences of sun and air, 



* We owe this hint to Mr. Alfred Smith, of Newport, a most intelligent 

 and successful amateur, in whose garden we first saw fine specimens of this 

 mode of treating climbers. 



