82 THE MANSE GARDEN. 



admissibility before giving directions for their culture. 

 It will be found that much of the bad effect com- 

 plained of arises either from the undue height to 

 which they are carried, or a great degree of unneat- 

 ness 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 direc- 

 tion, 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 accom- 

 modate 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, constituting a green and flourish- 

 ing 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 

 inconsistent with beauty has rather a good effect; 

 serving, 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. 



But should your taste be over fastidious, it may be 

 observed that the fruit raised on espaliers, of which 

 every branch has an equal portion of the sun, is greatly 

 superior to that of standard trees ; besides, trees of 



