22 



THE GARDENER. 



sible, removed. Evergreens make the best shelter, inas- 

 much as they are equally efficient both in summer and 

 winter ; but as they do not grow so rapidly as some 

 other trees, and as immediate shelter is required when 

 a garden is formed, a row of poplars may be planted 

 outside the evergreens ; for even in winter their twigs 

 will obstruct the sweep of the winds. Forest trees 

 should never be planted very near the outside walls, 

 else their roots may penetrate underneath the walls 

 into the borders within, and rob the fruit trees and 

 other productions of their proper nourishment; the 

 droppings from the overhanging leaves of the ash, in 

 particular, are highly injurious. The form ought to 

 be such as will present the greatest portion of area 

 and of wall or hedge to the sun, and least to the north 

 and west. Where there is no better boundary than a 

 hedge, espalier and standard fruit trees, and vegeta- 

 bles generally, may be raised freely on its sunny side ; 

 and therefore the greatest possible extent of ground 

 should be included on that quarter. The north wall 

 ought to be at least twelve feet high, for it is a waste- 

 ful economy to curtail the elevation at the loss of the 

 valuable fruit with which it might be covered to the 

 summit ; and as dishonest neighbours are sometimes 

 met with, the saving of fruit and choice vegetables 

 from the hand of the spoliator, by a secure fence 

 around the garden, may in a few years be more than a 

 counterbalance of two or three feet of mason-work in 

 the height of a wall, which, if of stone, can be dimi- 

 nished in breadth to a single foot above. Moreover, 

 a high wall with a southern aspect becomes much 

 more heated than a low one ; and a higher tempera- 

 ture is maintained for the trees in front, the roots of 

 which are likewise benefited from additional heat ac- 

 quired by the border from greater reverberation of the 

 sun's rays. But unless a protection from spoliation, 

 or that its external side can be rendered available for 



