THE JOYOUS ART OF GARDENING 



A nine-inch square "mesh" is a good size for strips that are 

 J^xl inch, and a twelve-inch "mesh" if the strips are of 

 lumber J^ x IJ^ inches.) The lattice may be diamond or 

 square, according to one's taste. Square is a bit easier to make, 

 the diamond, perhaps, more decorative. 



The easiest form of lattice on which to try one's " 'prentice 

 hand" is the "ladder," shown on this page. This is used as 

 a support for a climbing rose, for assisting 

 a vine up a piazza-post, and has many dec- 

 orative uses about the house. 



Although apparently simpler of applica- 

 tion, the usual poultry-wire is actually far 

 more difficult for a woman to manage un- 

 aided than even an elaborate-looking lattice. 

 To look well, the poultry-wire needs to be 

 stretched evenly and tightly between its sup- 

 porting posts. And to do this is by no 

 means as easy as it looks. 



In Colonial times the lattice was very 

 much in use, and the Colonial gardens had 

 a- charm which ours have not. 

 In these older gardens the lattice was very evident. There 

 were latticed summer-houses — such as that at Mount Vernon 

 — often a latticed well-house, latticed arches or arbors or 

 porches. These were simple in line, almost invariably beauti- 

 ful in proportion. Usually, in the Colonial gardens these struc- 

 tures were painted white, with the latticework in green. With 

 their complement of vines (for over them would be wistaria, 

 or perhaps the little old-fashioned red roses), these arbors and 

 summer-houses must have been charming settings for the 

 eighteenth-century damsels. For the purposes of romance, 

 they were far ahead of our electric-lighted porches or open 



58 



'Ladder" trellis 



