74 



GARDEN WALLS. 



to the light and natural appearance which 

 should always characterise a garden." 



From observing the advantage of the 

 protection afforded by the leaves of a fig 

 tree to a peach tree under it, our intelli- 

 gent authority turned his attention " in 

 quest of some ornamental plant which 

 might be trained on a light trellis from 

 the ground upward to the top of the wall, 

 at right angles from the wall, and occu- 

 pying the same breadth across the border 

 as the trellised projection at top; the 

 supporting trellis to stand at the extre- 

 mities of the shoots of the peach and 

 other tender fruit trees, or at equal dis- 

 tances from their stems." The plant Mr 

 Gorrie fixed on for this purpose was the 

 double Ayrshire rose. " Its rapid growth 

 points it out as giving effect in the short- 

 est time ; its deciduous nature leaves 

 both projecting and side trellises open in 

 winter, to admit of the larva3 (grubs) and 

 ova (eggs) of insects being swept off by 

 the broom, or subjected to the chilling 

 blasts of December, and exposes the 

 young wood to the full play of the wind, 

 at a season when cold acts as a stimulus, 

 and promotes the future rapid energy of 

 vegetation in spring." — "The leaves of 

 this rose tree expand early in spring, 

 when their aid is wanted in exposed 

 situations; and where plants of it are 

 trained on side trellises, they contribute 

 to produce a calm serenity along the face 

 of the wall, while those on the projecting 

 trellis become sufficiently close for re- 

 pelling terrestrial radiated heat, and 

 throwing it back on the wall and border; 

 thus, in both instances, contributing to- 

 wards the protection of the tender blos- 

 soms, and the setting and maturity of the 

 fruit. The force of dashing rains is 

 modified by the projecting cope, while 

 they are allowed to fall on the foliage in 

 gentle and refreshing showers, as filtered 

 through the projecting live cope — a cope 

 which can easily be rendered close or 

 open according to the wish or fancy of 

 the gardener; and which, in point of 

 taste, utility, cheapness, and elegance, can 

 never be matched by the clumsy projec- 

 tions of wood or stone." — Gardeners' 

 Magazine. We make this long quota- 

 tion because it contains much of the 

 philosophy of the subject. 



The Aristolochia sipho, Ampelopsis hede- 

 racea, and other rapid growing deciduous 



runners, might be used for the same 

 purpose, and while they afforded shelter 

 during the growing season, would leave 

 the trees exposed to the action of the 

 atmosphere during winter. 



Horizontal shelters were strongly re- 

 commended by Lawrence, one of our 

 oldest authors on gardening, as a protec- 

 tion against perpendicular frosts, and 

 hence he suggested building in thin tiles 

 in parallel rows along the face of the wall, 

 leaving spaces between them for allowing 

 the branches to pass through. The same 

 object might be attained by employing 

 portable wooden shelters kept 2 or 3 

 inches from the wall, excepting the top- 

 most one, which should be laid close to 

 it. These protections need be no other 

 than long boards, 6 inches broad, placed 

 about 3 feet apart, and laid upon, and 

 fastened to, permanent iron studs driven 

 into the wall. The boarding to be re- 

 moved when danger of frosts is past. 



§ 5. — TRELLISED GARDEN WALLS. 



" Walls are often trellised, particularly 

 hot walls, and also mud, flint, and 

 stone walls — the former to protect the 

 branches from excessive heat, and the 

 latter to facilitate the training of the 

 trees," and preservation of the walls. 

 " In Holland and France this practice is 

 very prevalent, and such trellises are 

 usually formed of spars of wood. Of 

 late years the use of iron and copper has 

 become so very general, that even the whole 

 4g extent of some garden walls 

 lg " ' is trellised with wire of these 



f metals. Wire of one-sixteenth 

 of an inch in diameter is con- 

 sidered a good size, although 

 some use it much stronger. 

 These wires are stretched hori- 

 zontally — in some cases verti- 

 cally—at from 6 to 15 inches 

 apart, according to the sort of 

 Fig. 49. tree to be trained. The wire 

 is fastened to the wall by cast- 

 \ iron or copper nails, with 

 / \ eves /' as m the annexed 



/ \ sketches, figs. 48, 49, "which 



/ \ are either built in when the 

 / O \ wa ^ * s ma de, or driven in 

 L ™ afterwards. Many advan- 

 tages are attributed to the practice of 



