336 



THE PARKS AND GARDENS OP PARIS. [Chap. XX. 



into fantastic monograms and letters. The columnar form is 

 very well developed here, some of the specimens approaching 

 eighteen feet in height. They are regularly staked, and high 



lines of wire connect them 

 by the tops, so that they are 

 held firmly together. 



Numerous palmetto trees 

 occur here, and it is notice- 

 able that the lines which the 

 trees are to follow are laid 

 down at first with Willow or 

 other slender flexible rods. 

 This very much simplifies 

 training. The plan is well 

 worth adopting in our gardens 

 even for the simplest vertical 

 forms. There is with this 

 plan no doubt as to the exact 

 course each shoot is to follow. 

 The shoots also make cleaner 

 growth, from being tied to 

 the straight rods when young. 

 Much time is also saved to 

 the men in training by having 

 the lines exactly laid down 

 for the tree at first. Willow- 

 rods do admirably where 

 there are bends of branches. 

 A Plum-tree, trained as a 

 Palmetto Yerrier, was very 

 ornamental, the lines of fruit 

 darkening the long, neatly- 

 guided branches. Curtains 

 of Pear and other trees, 

 trained on slender trellises 

 of wire, are very well formed. 

 The Peach is grown to some extent against the walls, and 

 successfully, some of the trees looking almost as well as those 

 at Montreuil, though the walls are not so high. A large portion 



