766 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



While in France, at the time of Le Notre (1613-1700), 

 deciduous trees, principally the hornbeam, were employed 

 to make the screens and arbors symmetrically pruned, 

 abroad, especially in England, trees of persistent leaves, 

 the yew above all, were made to contribute to this same 

 use and to the formation of the most diverse objects. 



There have remained in our country, upon the great 

 estates of our period, notably at Versailles, at Trianon, 

 at Chantilly, works of the celebrated architecture cited, 

 hedges of hornbeam, sufficiently well preserved, and of 

 yews trimmed in pyramidal form, that make a good ef- 

 fect in the neighborhood of the great fountains at Ver- 

 sailles. There are seen, also, on certain estates like that 

 of Messrs. Moser at Versailles, yews trimmed even more 

 fantastic, but nowhere in our country, to our know-ledge 

 at least, does there exist a scene entirely formed of these 

 trained trees, comparable to those of some English parks, 

 made famous by this art. 



It is the case of Elvaston Castle in Derbyshire, of which 

 the walls, the bastions, the towers, etc., are formed by 

 conical hedges of yews, whether of the ordinary type or 

 of the pretty golden variety, which takes on a very yellow 

 tint in the Spring at the time of putting forth its young 

 branches. One observes, besides the arbors, the arches, 

 the benches, and. as was stated a little before, many of 

 the trees in geometric forms, but relatively few in the 

 form of animals. The scene which Sir Frank Crisp has 

 taken pleasure in creating in his park is. on the contrary, 

 exclusively formed of objects the most unusual and the 

 strangest that he could procure. This scene seems to be 

 a creation relatively recent, which is still easy enough in 

 England, for one sees at most of the expositions portions 

 allotted to these topiary trees. 



If one compares this decorative style of gardens with 

 the fancv flower beds, long since abandoned ; then with 

 the French flower beds, rather on the decline, and finally 

 with the landscape style that prevails in our day in the 

 majority of gardens, one finds himself amazed, not by 

 the difference which separates the first from the last, for 

 it is of such a sort that comparison is useless, but very 

 much by the conception of gardens in those remote pe- 

 riods, and above all by the mentality of the men who con- 

 structed them and of those who admired them. Thev 

 neglected entirely the beauties of Nature and interest in 

 the plants themselves, for it pleased them to realize an 

 ideal of pure imagination, which consisted to a great 

 extent in going contrary to Nature rather than in imitat- 

 ing her. It was without doubt the same mental state that 

 led the Japanese, at about the same time, to dwarf and 

 to render ill-shaped the trees that would lend themselves 

 to this torture. 



It is just to recognize that then botany had not been 

 born. Linnreus published his system of classification of 

 the vegetable kingdom only in the eighteenth century. 

 The magnificent vegetable exotics that now adorn our 

 gardens were still unknown, or at least not yet introduced. 

 One understands, then, that the gardeners of the period 

 had put their intelligence and their activity to the crea- 

 tion of scenes of pure imagination, designed above all to 

 strike the attention of their contemporaries. 



And now can some benefit be reaped for the embellish- 

 ment of our modern gardens from this ancient style of 

 trimming trees? 



As far as hornbeams are concerned, it is evident that 

 they render still signal service in screening certain places, 

 in separating parts of the garden quite distinctly and in 

 forming arbors, etc. Topian,' trees can. if their form is 

 simple and geometric, occupy, as do vases and statues, 

 certain selected places in the large flower beds, in the 

 vicinit\' of mansions and of the must imiiortant dwellings. 



As for the scenes cited, they could hardly fail to find 

 place upon the great and wealthy estates where space is 

 not lacking, and where the architects desire to create 

 scenes of different styles ; Alpine gardens, French, Italian, 

 Japanese, or others, fancy flower beds, carpet beddings, 

 augmenting their interest by their extreme diversity, 

 which is true of Friar Park. 



On the contrary, we consider that these topiary trees 

 are not in their place when scattered among other trees, 

 as one sees them at times in small gardens, any more than 

 is a rock garden in the midst of a flower border, or 

 Japanese trees upon a lawn. — Le Petit Jardin (translated 

 from French). 



PRUNING EVERGREENS 



pVERGREENS after they have left the hands of the 

 nurseryman and have been planted in their permanent 

 quarters, rarely need much pruning. It is, of course, al- 

 ways in order to prune away the interior dead twigs. In 

 fact, it should be strongly recommended in close grow- 

 ing subjects like Retinispom squarrosa and in some of 

 the Spruces or any evergreen that gets an accumulation 

 of dead leaves and twigs in the center, as it is only a har- 

 bor for red spider and other pests. 



This cleaning out of the centers is really worth while 

 from the apparent beneficial results it has on the plant. 

 Other pruning of well grown plants is scarcely neces- 

 sary, or at least should be confined to shortening the cur- 

 rent year's growth, if it is desired to have them very 

 bushy. 



Exception must be made, of course, to topiary work 

 where evergreens are annually clipped into fantastic un- 

 natural shapes. This is a proposition entirely aside from 

 pruning for the welfare of the tree or plant. There is 

 too much clipping done to evergreens. In many places 

 it is an annual operation that could very well be dis- 

 pensed with to the great advantage in the appearance of 

 the place. Such plants as the common Retinosporas, 

 Junipers, etc.. are often clipped until the poor things die 

 in despair. Just as soon as the plant puts out its beau- 

 tiful green foliage in Spring, the would-be gardener clips 

 it all oft'. If the same labor was directed in cleaning out 

 the inside and merely cutting off with a knife any strag- 

 gling twig or branch, the specimen would be much more 

 pleasing in shape if allowed to resume its natural habit. 



Of course, evergreens in their young state have to be 

 trained and pruned until they can take care of them- 

 selves. In subjects like Retinospora plninosa, pisifcra. 

 squ-arrosa, and some of the Junipers it is well to select 

 and stake the leader while young, th^n shape them with 

 a knife, shortening back the strong growth to make the 

 plants bushy and prevent them from having more than 

 one central axis or leader. If more than one leader is 

 allowed to grow the plants open up with the weight of the 

 snow and become very unshapely as they become older. 



The growth will always be stronger at the top of the 

 plant, and while it is young it is advisable to annually 

 reduce the young growth, encouraging the lower branches 

 to fill out and get a well balanced plant. 



The real skilled workman knows the characteristic 

 shape of each variety of plant he wishes to prune, and 

 acts accordingly. Too often men without any knowledge 

 are given a pair of shears and turned into a block of 

 evergreens to shear them into shape. In spite of such 

 treatment plants often develop into fine specimens, but 

 if they had been helped more intelligently the size and 

 their own beautiful character would have been developed 

 to much greater advantage without the annual shearing. 

 — The National Nurser\man. 



