80 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 
to show his skill in ornamental planting; putting out rows of 
palms alternated with Chinese Hibiscus, it may be. 
I have in front of my house a couple of acres of high, rocky 
hammock and I have always considered it the most valuable 
asset on the place, not to cut down and plant, but to keep in 
its natural beauty. It became necessary to cut an opening 
through it immediately in front of the house in order that I 
might carry a walk down to the bay, and to have a peep across 
the water. This I was fortunately able to do with but very little 
cutting, as it happened that the narrowest part of the hammock 
was at that point. Only a couple of old, partly decayed trees 
had to be cut and a small amount of unimportant young stuff, 
and when the irregular opening was cleared out, not over thirty 
feet wide anywhere, I had a lovely view out over the water. 
Across this vista one can watch the passing boats and it serves 
as a passage through which cold air during northers can pass. 
I have cut out a narrow trail, just wide enough for a single 
person, getting down on my knees in the thick scrub, and working 
it out with a hatchet. Nothing of any value was destroyed in 
cutting out this walk, for where I came in contact with any 
choice tree or small thing I worked around it and left it standing. - 
This trail was apparently cut without any particular purpose, 
but in no case did it come near enough to the edge of the wood 
to permit one to see out of it. At the same time it went pretty 
well around the hammock and did not, at any point, approach 
near enough to itself so that it was possible to see across. By 
this means the impression was created that this bit of wood 
was quite a considerable forest, and visitors have supposed that 
it contained twenty acres. 
I led the trail to all the objects of interest in the little wood; 
here a great live oak whose branches spread widely over the 
lower growth in the forest; there to a grand specimen of cab- 
bage palmetto; again to another oak which had been overthrown 
in a hurricane long ago, and which had sent up vigorous stems 
only to be overturned a second time, so that at last its branches 
were a strange tangle. Here it passes under a large tree that had 
probably sometime been partly overthrown in a gale and which 
now forms a wonderful arch, under which the path was carried. 
