94 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



building bricks are sometimes moulded on purpose of thinner shape, 

 either square or half-round in plan, the latter being for piers that are to 

 show as round columns. Brick, stone or marble, or wooden columns are 

 also used in refined designs. 



For more ordinary work the piers may be of oak trunks of a diameter 

 of 8 to 10 inches. These if tarred or charred at the butts high enough 

 up to show a charred space of a foot above the ground-line, and put into 

 the ground like gate-posts, will last from fifteen to eighteen years, or have 

 about the lifetime of an ordinary field gate-post. A better and more 

 enduring way is to have the posts of Oak eight inches square, set on 

 squared stones that stand a foot out of the ground, with a stout iron 

 dowel let into the foot of the post and the top of the stone. Unless the 

 appearance of the Oak post is desired there is little if anything to choose 

 in point of cost between this and the solid brick pier, as the Oak has to 

 be squared and the plinth shaped and bedded on a concrete foundation. 



In most places local custom and convenience of obtaining local material 

 will be the best guide in choosing what the pergola is to be made of. 

 Larch posts are nearly as good as Oak, and Larch tops are the best of all 

 materials for the top roofing. 



Whatever may be the kind of post or pier, it is important to have 

 them connected by good beams. The beam ties the opposite pairs of 

 posts or piers together across the path. In the case of brick or stone 

 piers it should be of Oak or Larch seven to eight inches square, not quite 

 horizontal, but slightly rising in the middle. This is of some importance, 

 as it satisfies the eye with the feeling of strong structure, and is actually 

 of structural utility. 



It is of course possible to make a pergola of iron with very flat arches, 

 and supporting rods and wires or wire netting for the top ; but it is the 

 material least recommended and the one that is the least sympathetic to 

 the plants ; indeed in many cases contact with the cold iron is actually 

 harmful. 



A modification of the continuous pergola is in many cases as good as, 

 or even better than, the more complete kind. This is the series of rosts 

 and beams without any connection in the direction of the length of the 

 path, making a succession of flowering arches ; either standing quite clear 

 or only connected by garlands swinging from one pair of piers to the next 

 along the sides of the path, and perhaps light horizontal rails also 

 running lengthwise from pier to pier. 



This is the best arrangement for Roses, as they have plenty of air and 

 light, and can be more conveniently trained as pillars and arches, while 

 the most free-growing of the Ayrshires and hybrid multiflora ramblers 

 willingly make swinging garlands. Roses are not so good for the 

 complete pergola. 



To come to the plants, and to take first the cases in which most 

 shade is desired, with beauty of flower or foliage, the best are certainly 

 Grape Vines, Arietolochia, Virginia Creeper, and Wistaria. They are all, 

 except Virginia Creeper, slow to grow at first, but in four years they will 

 be glowing strongly. Vines should be planted a fair size, as large as can 

 be had in pots, or two or three years will be lost at the beginning. 

 Aristolochia, and especially Wistaria, though they grow fast when 



