August, 1911 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



17 



cient tension to be put on the wire to make 

 it taut. The intermediate posts may be 

 lighter, but should be firmly planted to 

 ensure their remaining upright. 



Barbed wire should never be admitted 

 into the garden. The ordinary galvanized 

 iron telegraph -wire (No. 8 gauge) is the 

 most suitable. It may be attached to 

 the stretching post by "screw-eyes," which 

 should be galvanized, or by the simple 

 expedient of passing it through holes made 

 with an auger or gimlet and twisting 

 a knot on the protruding end. The 

 stretching is best managed with a block 

 and tackle, but you can make shift with 

 an extemporized lever in the manner shown. 



When the wire is taut, the end should be 

 knocked up with a hammer close to the 

 hole and turned two or three times round 

 a stout nail. 



Kinks and bends in the wire may be 

 rubbed out of it with the hammer handle 

 whilst it is under tension, before the final 

 tightening. 



Two good types of open fence are shown 

 in the next illustration. In the all-rail pat- 

 tern the post heads are made separately 

 and nailed on, their purpose being to pro- 

 tect the end grain of the post from the 

 weather. 



Temporary fences may be made of rough 

 cedar or other timber that may be readily 

 and cheaply procurable. The lattice or 

 "rustic" fence is short-lived, and in long 



lengths its diagonal pattern is monotonous. 

 Its appearance is much improved by 

 adding a top rail of halved timber flat side 

 down. 



In setting out a fence care should be 

 taken to keep a straight line from point 



The right way to plant a box edging — make a trian- 

 gular trench and lay the plants along the one side 



Wire can be pulled taut by using a lever, thus 



to point, by using a stretched cord as a 

 guide for fixing the posts. The tops of 

 the posts should be adjusted in line by 

 sighting, two T pieces being fixed as levels 

 to work from, one at each end of the stretch. 

 The spacing of posts will depend upon the 

 design and character of the fence and the 

 length of timber purchased for the rails, 

 but ten feet is the maximum advisable. 



Of iron fencing there are many patterns 

 for all purposes, put on the market by the 

 manufacturers, and I need not speak of 

 them beyond saying that they are durable 

 and easily erected. 



Ready-made trellis is so cheap that it 

 does not pay to make it at home when the 

 ordinary diamond pattern is wanted. In 

 erecting a screen of trellis provide a well- 

 framed support, as there is very little 

 strength or stiffness in the trellis itself. 

 The rule should be to support all the edges 

 by allowing them to butt against the centre 

 of the frame, securing them by fillets nailed 

 thereto. 



The practice of leaving a raw edge at 

 the top is slovenly. All trellis should be 

 painted with two or three coats of good 



oil color, well worked into the angles at 

 the crossings, for it is there that the rain 

 finds its way in and starts the process of 

 decay. 



If the gardener is handy with his tools, 

 and blessed with sufficient leisure, he may 

 try his hand on "woven trellis," using 

 cleft oak laths and working on the plan 

 illustrated herewith. He must design 

 his squares of sufficient size to admit of 

 bending the laths without difficulty, and 

 he should pin them at their crossings with 

 oak pegs. A trellis of this kind will not 

 require to be painted. 



Hedges, living fences, not only serve 

 to mark the garden boundary and the 

 subdivisions of the garden, but they ma- 

 terially assist in the garden picture. I 

 know of no better background for a wide 

 herbaceous border than a well-grown hedge, 

 provided no wall is available. Hedges, 

 however, occupy more width than fences, 

 and we must allow for this in our planning. 

 Also there must be allowance for lateral 

 growth beyond the width to which we 

 intend to train the hedge, because we can- 

 not trim at frequent intervals. Also some- 

 thing additional should be allowed to keep 

 the flowers outside the radius of the roots 

 of the hedge plants. 





Why not make fences beautiful? Suggestions for wood fences that have a little more attractiveness than the common straightaway style used everywhere 



