FRUIT TREES. Chap. III. 55 



arranged as eaves. If a row of slate slabs is added, the job will be even more expensive 

 but tidier & longer lasting. It's covered with ridge tiles & it's all set with plaster or with a 

 mortar of lime, sand, & cement. Since ridge tiles are expensive, the eaves usually aren't 

 covered with tiles but rather with hard ashlars fastened together tightly and rough 

 plastered. 



5°. The coping will be just as good & neater if made as a small cover of tiles or 

 slate whose ridge or final rows are covered not with ridge tiles but with a network of 

 plaster or of mortar of lime & coarse sand. 



6°. An inexpensive coping made from thatch covered with earth will last a long 

 time without repairs. It's not attractive to look at, & sometimes heavy rains wash a bit of 

 soil onto the trees. But this doesn't happen very often, & it affects neither the trees nor 

 their fruit. So this coping will prove useful in the absence of a neater one. 



7°. Freestones with one face equal to the thickness of the wall plus its projections, 

 & the rest cut like a tablet, a prism, or convex on the top, make the nicest looking & the 

 best copings. But they require sturdy walls to support them and very rich owners to pay 

 for them. 



Article III. On Trellises. 



THE BRANCHES of espalier trees need to be trained in the proper position & 

 orientation to get the trees' desired benefits & shape. This requires sturdy trellises for 

 fastening them or other means of holding them in place. 



I. Some of the various expedients available to gardeners 



