448 



THK PARKS AND GARDENS OP PARIS. [Chap. XXV. 



Borer s Raidisseur. 



of a very thin wire, which besides being quite as efficient is in- 

 finitely neater than the bolt-like wire employed here. They 

 have a still better and simpler raidisseur in use at Thomery. It 

 is simply a small piece of cast-iron costing little more than a 

 garden-nail — so small that its presence on wall or trellis does not 

 look awkward as some of the larger kinds do, but for all that, it 

 is a very effective tightener. The walls at Thomery are very 



neatly wired by its 

 help, and it is equally 

 useful for espaliers. I 

 have indeed never 

 visited a garden in 

 which the walls and 

 trellises were so neatly 

 done, and all by means 

 of this simple strainer 

 and the galvanised 

 wire. 



Mr. Palmer of Ver- 

 sailles writing in the ' Garden ' on this subject says : " Among the 

 numerous ' raidisseurs ' maufactured in France there is none, 

 perhaps, more effective and simple, and certainly none cheaper 

 than the tightener made by Borel, of 10, Quai du Louvre. It 

 consists of a small iron bolt with a flat head, of the exact 

 size here given. The hole in the flat head B is used for winding 

 up the bolt by means of a nail or round piece of iron. The 

 hole at is for introducing the end of the wire to be wound 

 up, which coils away between the flanges (d d). The bolt revolves 

 between the coils of the stirrup-shaped wire loop X, which is 

 itself fastened by a wire to the end-post or hook of the espaliers. 

 The whole affair, with the wire loop ready mounted, is sold for 

 three-halfpence. Before this last raidisseur was invented, I had 

 successfully used for many years the following plan of tightening 

 wires. I made a loop somewhere about the middle of my wire by 

 twisting it round a cylindrical piece of iron or bolt, which I left 

 in it to prevent its closing, while I stretched the wire by hand 

 and fastened the two ends. This done, I gave the bolt as many 

 turns as were necessary to obtain the required degree of tension, 

 and then withdrew it. I could at any future time give an addi- 



