ii6 



Gardens for Small Country Houses. 



over it a tracery ot some other climber, such as Clematis Fla.mmula or Virginia creeper. 

 Another stone gateway (Fig. 150) is reasonably clothed with rose and vine foHage ; 

 but their growth is already quite enough — a Httle more and it would be overdone. 

 The popular and, in its place, valuable Ampelopsis Veitchii has much to answer 



for. It has per- 

 ceptibly harmed 

 the fine brickwork 

 of some of the old 

 Tudor buildings at 

 Hampton Court- 

 not only smother- 

 ing the architecture 

 but actually 

 damaging the 

 surface. The plant 

 clings by little 

 roundish suckers ; 

 in time these 

 become dry and 

 as hard as wire. 

 When the harmful 

 growth was at last 

 recognised on some 

 of the portions of 

 the palace built by 

 Cardinal Wolsey, 

 and it was cleared 

 away, the dry 

 suckers held so 

 tightly that they 

 could not be dis- 

 lodged without 

 bringing away 

 some of the face 

 of the brick. 



In the case of 

 the wistaria form- 

 ing an outer 

 curtain to a 

 p o i n t e d-a r c h e d 

 window one may 

 easily guess how 

 such an odd misuse 

 of a fine plant may 

 have occurred 



(Fig. 151). It is evident that it was forbidden to drive supporting nails or staples 

 into the joints of the stonework, and that the only apparent alternative was to fasten 

 the plant to the iron bars of the window itself. The still simpler alternative was 

 overlooked, namely, that of refraining from the use of a plant requiring nailing on a 

 wall where it could not be nailed. The same picture shows an error only too common 





FIG. 152, — RAMBLING ROSES, VINE AND IVY ON ROUGH BUILDINGS. 



