138 



GARDEN WALLS. 



dwarfish, and we take pains to n^.ake them more so. 

 How ridiculous then it is, to see such dwarfed trees 

 planted against a wall of treble their fuil-grown 

 height. 



For the convenient culture of dwarf fruit trees, 

 low walls are sometimes built across gardens of suffi- 

 cient extent. These are usually nine-inch work, 

 with pilasters of fourteen-inch work, at about six- 

 teen feet distances behind. The height need not be 

 more than six feet, and on which great quantities of 

 fruit may be produced both in front and on the back; 

 the latter particularly convenient for matting up 

 currants or other fruits required to be kept on the 

 trees after the regular season. 



The best form of a garden is a square, or long 

 square, with the angles rounded. The centre of the 

 northward wall is the place for hot-houses, if any be 

 built. The borders, for wall fruit, should not be 

 less than twelve feet wide ; and if the bottom be 

 hard and dry (and if not it should be first made so), 

 a depth of eighteen inches of good fresh soil will be 

 sufficient for any kind of tree. These borders should 

 never be cropped with rank-growing vegetables; nor 

 ever dug deeply, but with a blunt-tined fork. In 

 dry summer weather, the surface of these borders 

 should be kept moderately moist, by mulching and 

 occaskjnaT^terings ; and frequently sprinkled with 

 soot, to deter insects from nestling in the ground or 

 on the trees. 



There have been, in former times, many fanciful 

 ideas entertained respecting the best directions or 



