FORMAL AND LANDSCAPE PLANTING 39 



an amount of labour not easily realised by those who 

 have not attempted to do so. There can be no doubt, 

 too, that the near presence of hungry evergreens is 

 prejudicial to roses and tender plants on account of the 

 nourishment they demand, and the idea that they act as 

 harbourage to insect and other pests is also well founded. 

 Their merit consists in the fact that they form an 

 admirable shelter, certainly the best obtainable after 

 walls and fences, and a certain old-world air of pic- 

 turesque dignity which they impart. Despite this, their 

 use is constantly overdone; they are planted to dis- 

 traction, dividing the garden into chess-board squares 

 and alleys leading nowhere ; they render the soil sour 

 and cold, exclude sunlight, and sooner or later wear an 

 appearance of gloomy desolation, especially in the 

 cheerless days of winter and late autumn. Had they 

 been used sparingly, instead of to excess, it is possible 

 they would still be regarded with the favour they once 

 enjoyed, for we must not forget the charm of the old 

 manorhouse gardens, where yew hedges were, and still 

 are, true ornaments, because highly appropriate. It is 

 all a question of environment, and the greatest discretion 

 is needed when transferring a feature of this description 

 to modern surroundings, depriving it in the process of 

 its old traditions a relic of the past in a new and often 

 incongruous setting. A yew hedge sometimes looks 

 wel] when used as a boundary between the flower and 

 vegetable garden, a convenient arch or archways being 

 cut to afford communication from one to the other. A 

 level top is preferable to one cut into semi-circular 

 hollows or crenelations ; and any further embellishment, 

 such as standard trees with oddly-shaped heads planted 

 at intervals, is certainly to be avoided. 



Isolated trees, whether yew, box, mopheaded acacias 

 or holly, are objects of pity to the lover of natural beauty, 

 when he sees them transferred by the shears into cones, 



