686 GARDENESQUE STYLE OF FLOWER-GARDENS. 



visible fence." They are also strong, and 

 although they may be bent by violent con- 

 cussions, they are scarcely capable of being 

 broken ; to which advantages maybe added 

 their durability and elegant appearance, 

 and the fact that they can be erected at 

 less cost than any other equally efficient 

 fence whatever. They are of a great 

 variety of patterns, strength, and sizes. 



Tree-protectors are used where rabbits 

 or hares abound, and also for protecting 

 single trees from 



Fig. 964. 



injury by cattle, 

 and are of vari- 

 ous forms, and 

 of different mate- 

 rial. Those made 

 of small iron 

 rods, or strong 

 wire, are not only 

 the neatest, but 

 the most durable, 

 and by a simple 

 contrivance may 

 be joined by 

 hooks and eyes ; 

 so that they may 

 be removed from 

 one tree to an- 

 other without be- 

 ing taken to 

 pieces. Fig. 964 

 represents one 

 form of these. 



Trainers for climbing plants, when of 

 elegant forms, and judiciously disposed, 

 add greatly to the beauty of a well-kept 

 flower-garden. They are also employed 

 for climbing-plants in pots. The form 

 and size of trainers should be consistent 

 with and proportioned to the character 

 of the plant to be supported. Single 

 polls without branches may appropriately 

 enough be used for hollyhocks and similar 

 growing plants, although we think a far 

 more elegant form would be to train them 

 to a series of arches. Roses are trained 

 in a variety of forms, according to the 

 effect wished to be produced. Pyramidal 

 training is well adapted to some of the 

 strong-growing sorts, and is in general 

 formed by setting three larch poles in the 

 ground in a triangular form, having their 

 but-ends charred to secure durability, 

 and their tops brought together to a point, 

 and fastened by an iron hook. The plants 

 may be trained up the single polls — and 



this we think the best way ; or they may 

 be connected together by laths or wires, 

 and the whole surface densely covered. 

 Standard roses should always be supported 

 so that the support may not be seen ; and 

 for this nothing is better than iron stakes, 

 with three prongs to set in the ground to 

 keep them steady, and then to envelop 

 both stem and support in clean green 

 moss. This obviates the effects of frost 

 during winter, and keeps the stem moist 

 during the heats of summer ; besides, it 

 gives the tree really the appearance of a 

 trunk, bearing a much better proportion 

 to the head than the stem, without such 

 coverings, would have ; for, as standard 

 roses are at present grown, they have 

 much more the appearance of mops stuck 

 upon a pole than natural-grown trees. 

 We have stated in the article Espaliers 

 the effects of frost on the stems and 

 branches of plants when brought into close 

 contact with iron. To avoid that, and give 

 durability at the same time, we use 

 wrought-iron sockets as in the following 

 cut. These are set in the ground, till the 

 cross-bars at top of the prongs (all of 

 which should be flat) firmly rest on the sur- 

 face of the ground. In these sockets, when 

 placed in the ground at the root of the 

 tree, are inserted larch-poles that have 

 been a year cut, dressed and perfectly 

 seasoned, of a diameter at least half an 

 inch greater than that of the hole in the 

 socket j so that, when inserted, they may 

 form a shoulder or projection of not less 

 than a quarter of an inch over the open- 

 ing in the socket, that the wet, which 



Fig. 965. 



may run down 

 the poles, may 

 fall over the 

 iron, and not 

 into it. Such 

 supports will 

 last for years ; 

 and from the 

 way they are set 

 in the ground, 

 they cannot be 

 blown over by 

 the wind. Any 

 neat and effi- 

 cient trainer 

 for roses and 

 strong climb- 

 ing plants may 

 be formed, as 



