PROPS. 



233 



PROPS. 



In general all plants grown in pots 

 should have the support of a regular 

 or symmetrical shape ; and all those 

 grown in heds or borders, such as 

 Sweet Peas, the common Tropseolum, 

 (Nasturtium), the Scarlet-runner, &c, 

 should have small branchy stakes 

 inserted in the soil in a regular 

 manner, so as never to appear the 

 work of chance or of carelessness, but 

 of art and careful design. Climbing 

 roses may either be supported by 

 training against walls or trellis-work, 

 or on single rods, with expanding 

 parasol-like tops of wire-work ; or 

 they may be supported on cones or 

 pyramids of rods or poles. The 

 stronger-growing climbing Roses, 

 which attain the height of twenty 

 feet, or thirty feet, or upwards, such 

 as the double Ayrshire Rose, the 

 Rose de Lille, the Boursault, R. 

 Macrantha, Cassoretiana, Brooke's 

 Climbing, Noisettes, &c. may be sup- 

 ported on cones or pyramids two feet 

 or three feet in diameter at the ground, 

 and rising to the height of twenty feet, 

 formed of the stems of young Fir 

 trees tied together : tender roses, on 

 the other hand, such as Rosa Bdnk- 

 sia, the Musk Rose, require to be 

 trained against walls. Props for border- 

 flowers may either be small rods made 

 by splitting the laths used by plas- 

 terers or by carpenters from deal- 

 board ; but perhaps the best mode, 

 because least artificial and ostenta- 

 tious, is that of using straight rods of 

 hazel, or some such wood, with the 

 bark on. The object in using the 

 rods of this kind is not so much to 

 avoid the appearance of the use of 

 the instruments of the carpenter, as 

 to avoid the conspicuousness which is 

 the result of all artificial props, and 

 especially of such as are not painted 

 green. The principle to be taken as 

 a guide is, that the rod should always 

 be subordinate to the plant to be sup- 

 ported by it or trained on it. If this 



principle is kept constantly in view, 

 few glaring errors will be committed 

 either in forming supports for plants 

 in pots, or for plants in the open 

 ground. Hence walls on which 

 plants are to be trained should never 

 be built of bright red brick, or very 

 white stone ; or if they are plas- 

 tered, the colour should always be of 

 a subdued kind. Some plants are 

 trained up rods or cones for the sake 

 of producing flowers ; and others, such 

 as Ivy, when trained up an erect rod 

 with an umbrella-like top for the sake 

 of producing shade. When the ob- 

 ject is flowers during the whole ex- 

 tent of the plant, the prop should 

 always be wider at the base than at 

 the top, in order that the foliage may 

 enjoy the direct influence of the sun 

 and of perpendicular rains during its 

 whole extent. When the flowers 

 are chiefly to be produced at the top, 

 and the object of the stem is merely 

 to elevate the top to a considerable 

 distance from the ground, then the 

 latter must spread over the former as 

 much as may be desirable for the 

 sake of effect. In like manner, when 

 the object is shade, or the covering of 

 a summer shelter or a bower, the 

 stems may be trained upright and 

 may be shaded to any extent by the 

 head. 



Wire frames for training plants in 

 pots are generally painted green ; but 

 a more artistical colour would be that 

 of stone or of the bark of trees, or of 

 young rods ; because green too much 

 resembles nature, and the object in 

 imitating nature ought never to be 

 to produce such a resemblance as 

 might be mistaken for it. In sup- 

 porting large flowers, such as Dah- 

 lias, or shrubs, such as standard Roses, 

 in the open garden, stakes of cast or 

 wrought iron are frequently used, and 

 the colour they are painted is almost 

 always green ; but though this colour 

 abstractedly considered is so agreeable 



