393 



There yet remains to be noticed the formal garden which fills a 

 huge area in front of the house, and provides such a vivid contrast 

 to the Botanic Garden we have just left with its fine trees, lawns, 

 and shady walks. This formal garden is a striking illustration of 

 the numerous gardens on the Continent whose designers drew 

 their inspiration from Versailles. It is situated on a perfectly flat 

 piece of ground, and consists chiefly of a series of avenues and 

 straight walks radiating from circular open spaces. The morning 

 of June 6, like the previous night, had been rainy, and many of 

 the walks were a morass of mud two to three inches deep. A 

 large part of the workmen's time must be taken up with such 

 purely mechanical work as clipping the interminable hedges and 

 raking over the walks. A sheet of water of considerable size and 

 several circular basins give some interest to the place, but little 

 gardening of a genuine nature is done, and few flowers are to be 

 seen. Statuary, however, is abundant. The triangular spaces 

 formed by the radiating walks are frequently enclosed by high 

 clipped hedges of hornbeam, and these enclosures have sometimes 

 been made into little orchards— a quaint and old-world feature. 

 But, on the whole, this huge formal garden is depressing. An 

 indefinable air of sadness pervades the place, and as one traverses 

 the maze of walks and avenues in search of some pleasing feature, 

 one keeps on asking oneself the question, " What is the good of 

 it all ? " without ever finding a satisfactory answer. 



Berlin. June 7 to June 10. 



The stranger interested in trees seeks out, on his first arrival at 

 Berlin, the famous Unter den Linden. As a street, with the mag- 

 nificent Brandenburg Gate at one end, it ranks as one of the nnest 

 in Europe. But as an example of arboriculture it is disappointing. 

 The limes are healthy but small, and very much of the type : to be 

 seen in hundreds of streets in the suburbs of London. ine j> a ^ 

 planted to form an avenue along the middle of the street, leaving 

 a space for carriages and other traffic at the sides. 



Through the Brandenburg Gate one reaches the Thfcr <&***- 

 This is an area of perhaps 200 acres, largely covered with wood. 

 Whilst the walks by which it is intersected afford agreeable -and 

 shady promenades for the people of Berlin in summer, t he ^e 

 is of a monotonous chapter, and the trees themselves , p :esen no 

 striking features. They are growing too thickly to develop into 

 fine individual specimens, but not thickly enough to "P«*£f 

 good forest conditions. It cannot be compared with the delightful 

 Bois de la Cambre on the outskirts of Brussels. 



My chief object in visiting Berlin ™*™*ZJ$^l 

 Botanic Garden 3 at Dahlem. ^l^JZ^iX^of age 



Whilst 



much 



made 



uescrioe it at the present tune, »=> wv r 'a h hia rec< 

 to be dismissed in a few paragraphs and i .has mk£ 

 well *m,i *.n„ A a »u w uh in the "Gardeners Lhronicie 



dealt 



