18 



THE PRACTICAL GARDENER. 



means In proportion, if it extend to several acres. The ex- 

 treme height of the north wall, in any garden, should not ex- 

 ceed eighteen feet ; and on the supposition that it contains four 

 acres, the east and west walls should be fifteen, and the south 

 wall only twelve feet high, in order that it may give the neces- 

 sary relief to the eye. In a garden four hundred feet long, 

 and three hundred feet broad, which forms a handsome paral- 

 lelogram, and contains something above two English acres, if 

 the ground lie on an easy slope, a very eligible height for the 

 north wall is sixteen feet, for the east and west walls fourteen, 

 and for the south wall twelve. But if the ground be quite 

 level, or nearly so, the north wall being the same height, the 

 east and west walls should be thirteen and a half feet, and the 

 south wall eleven feet in height, or the east and west walls 

 may be only thirteen, and the south wall ten feet high, if it 

 be a dead level." 



Many persons are, however, content with walls of more 

 humble dimensions, and where the production of fruit only is 

 the consideration, no doubt can exist, but that lower walls an- 

 swer the purpose equally well, and in all cases will produce 

 an equal, if not a greater, quantity of fruit, in proportion to 

 their respective surfaces. Where economy is a consideration, 

 low walls, of six or eight feet in height, are to be preferred to 

 those which are from ten to eighteen. The generality of 

 trees will thrive well on such walls, and some kinds are sup- 

 posed to flourish better. The peach-growers on the continen' 

 prefer low walls ; and that practice has been, in some cases, 

 adopted in this country with complete success. 



Walls are generally built perpendicularly, or nearly so, and 

 are found to answer the purposes for which they are intended, 

 provided that the operative department be well managed ; we 

 cannot, therefore, divine what benefit is to be gained by de- 

 viating from this practice; although several authors have 

 recommended sloping walls, that is, building them so as to 

 present an inclined surface to the horizon, fi'om an idea that 

 the sun acts with more vigor upon such walls than upon per- 

 pendicular ones. 



A great variety of walls has been offered to the public, and 

 highly rated by the inventors, as a matter of course. In these 



