216 
TRELLISES FOR TUAINING PLANTS. 
size and form, (like the shafts of a common 
hand-barrow,) and with an iron loop in the 
middle, to fix them to the hooks, they may he 
shifted to a distance with the utmost ease.'' 
Now, there is not one word in all this that does 
not apply with equal propriety to wooden ones 
of old date, whereas you are tied to the square 
form with slate, whether you prefer squares 
or not; although, from the manner in which 
the plan is praised, one would he led to infer 
there was some novelty in it. We do not com- 
plain of those who are interested, doing the 
best they can to recommend the article; hut we 
would not have young plant-growers misled 
with any fallacious accounts of its superiority. 
The durability is the only solitary point in their 
favour, that is to say, if no accident happens to 
break them ; hut when we consider the great 
numher of years that yellow deal, pitched in- 
side, will last, and the great affinity which 
there appears between that article and the 
roots of the plants, there can be little said in 
behalf of the more durable material to com- 
pensate for its fragile nature, the additional 
weight, the necessity for having them square, 
and the absolute evil of requiring more soil to 
till a square, than a circle of the same diameter. 
There are gardeners who dispute the alleged 
fact, that slate is as good a material for the 
roots as ordinary pots or wood. This is carry- 
ing the objection further than is fair, though 
the production of healthy plants in slate boxes 
is no proof to the contrary until they are filled 
with roots, which has not been the case with 
any that we have seen ; still, we cannot agree 
with those who assert its inferiority without 
some positive proof. Those who maintain that 
glazed pots are not so good as unglazed have 
more ground for their objections. We have 
simply given our reasons for objecting to slate 
boxes, and they are founded on rational 
grounds. We object to square vessels of any 
kind for roots ; — we object to additional, 
useless soil, and additional weight of the box; 
— we object to the fragile nature of the slate 
as compared with wood; and the larger the 
boxes the greater are all these objections; but 
as to the effect of the material itself, we do 
not participate with those who assert its 
inferiority. There is, as we said before, no 
novelty in the plan, of which so much is 
made; for the advantages so praised have been 
secured in wooden boxes long before our 
time, and, so far as we have been enabled to 
judge from documents, more than a century. 
plants, the greater appears the necessity of an 
alteration. Whatever is unnatural in plant- 
growing must have some great advantages to 
enable us to tolerate it at all. This may be said 
against plants growing in pots instead of the 
TRELLISES FOR TRAINING PLANTS. 
We have already said a little upon this 
subject; but, the more we look on the present 
unnatural-looking shields for our climbing 
ground; for nothing but the necessity of doing 
so justifies it. Plants must be moved about, 
and therefore something to grow in is neces- 
sary, and that something is a pot, or tub, 
or some receptacle for the soil they require; 
but, in all cases, the nearer we can approach 
to familiar objects in our mode of training the 
better. There can hardly be a better guide 
than naturein all this. Where do we find climb- 
ing plants ? Twining up and round pillars, in- 
sinuating themselves into all the crevices of a 
ruin, festooning the Gothic arch and the glass- 
less window, enfolding the aged tree, and 
clinging to the ancient gateway. All these things 
can, more or less, be imitated. A pillar, whether 
broken or perfect, is not only an appropriate, 
but a handsome design for a climbing plant. 
An ancient arched window is well adapted for 
one of the larger kind of plants; and there is 
one great advantage in such subjects, if made 
we ll — they look the better for not being en- 
tirely covered. In the treatment of climbing 
plants, there is considerable attention required 
to the early shoots, and especially with those 
designs which would be deteriorated by the 
wandering of the shoots. For instance, suppose 
the design be an old decayed tree, with the 
remains of five or six branches that have been 
broken off, the greatest care is required to 
prevent any shoot from going like a line from 
one part to another. For this reason, you must 
let a shoot fill the branch, and return again 
down it, before it is made to fill another, other- 
wise the cross line would spoil the design 
altogether; but, generally speaking, the main 
shoot may be made to fill the trunk of the 
tree, and then, by stopping it, side . shoots 
