266 



CULINARY GARDENING. 



BOOK I, 



apricot. The horizontal manner fills the wall more completely, 

 though it is longer in accomplishing it ; and is best calculated 

 for such as run much to wood, as do many pears and apples. 

 In training to support climbing plants, nature should be imi- 

 tated as nearly as possible. With such kinds as twine round 

 other trees or supports, or fasten themselves to walls, nothing 

 more is necessary, than to put these on similar objects within 

 their reach; but with others, which support themselves by clasp- 

 ers or tendrils, it is requisite to fasten them by art when these 

 tendrils fail. In nature, they fail commonly the second year; and 

 then the whole twining shrub or climber falls down, or hangs 

 by its last made tendrils in such a way that its shoots are bent, 

 twisted, or inclined in every direction. This is the case with 

 vines, passion-flowers, and many others, and readily suggests 

 the advantage of training these sorts in a twisted or serpentine 

 direction. Indeed, nothing can be more unnatural than to 

 train them erect, as is generally done where vines are planted 

 against the back walls of hot-houses. When trained upon a 

 trellis under the sloping glass, they are in a more natural 

 situation, and are more likely to send out shoots or to break 

 (as gardeners term it) at every joint; but still experience has 

 proved the immense advantage of training in a serpentine 

 direction in every situation. In many hot-houses in England, 

 and in the greater number in Scotland, nearly two-thirds 

 of the crop which might be produced annually are lost for 



