184 



WALLS, ESPALIER-RAILS, AND TRELLIS- WORK. 



still less trouble. 



Straw mats (445) would also do, where reeds could not 

 be got ; and heath, as being of a dark colour and 

 • very durable, would make the best of all struc- 

 tures of this kind. Peaches, grapes, and other 

 fruits, ripen just as well on these structures as 

 on brick walls, both in Holland and England. 

 The trellis at Strathfieldsaye resembled low pits 

 when we saw them in 1833, with the glass on, 

 and the peaches, apricots, and figs, ripened on 

 them about a month sooner than on the open 

 walls. Similar stmctures (made, for economy, of 

 coarse wood, rough from the saw,") have lately been 

 erected by Mr. Rivers of Sawbridgeworth, and 

 Mr. Bellenden Ker. 



478. Espalier-rails are substitutes for walls, 

 commonly placed in borders parallel to walks. 

 The commonest form is nothing more than a row 



of perpendicular stakes driven into the soil, about 

 eight inches apart, centre from centre, about five 

 feet high, and connected by a rail at top. When 

 the stakes are of larch with the bark on, or when 

 they are of oak with their lower ends chaiTed, 

 they last five or six years ; but in general they 

 are of shorter duration, and continually requiring 

 repair. Framework of prepared timber well 

 painted, supported from the ground by sockets 

 of stone, are much more durable, and still more 

 so espalier-rails formed entirely of cast iron. In 

 every case, however, when either wooden or cast 

 iron framework is used, the stones which support 

 it ought to be raised two or three inches above 

 the surface of the ground, not only because this is 

 more architectural, but because it contributes to 

 the preservation of the iron or the wood. When 

 the stone bases are to support timber, the posts 

 should not be let into the stone, because in that 

 case water is apt to lodge and rot them ; but the 

 stone should be bevelled from the centre, and a 

 dowel of iron or wood inserted in it, so as to pass 

 into the lower end of the post. If the post is let into the stone, it should be set 

 in lead, pitch, or asphalte. In our Villa Gardener^ pp. 231 and 232, we have 

 shown two very economical espalier- rails formed of hoop iron and iron wire, 

 which we have had in use upwards of fifteen years, without requiring any other 

 repairs than that of being once coated over with gas liquor. A very light and 

 elegant espalier-rail, and perhaps the most economical of any, consists of iron 

 standards let into blocks of stone, strong wires being stretched through the 

 standards ; and at the extremities of each straight length the standards are 

 braced by stay bars, and a connecting bar holding the two together ; the 

 upper end of the stay bar being screwed to the main post. The triangle thus 

 formed at each end of a straiglit line of trellis admits of straining the wires 

 perfectly tight. A structure of this kind was first used as an espalier for 

 trees at Carclcw, in Cornwall ; but it has been frequently put up in various 



Fig. 123. Section of a reed wall. 



