54 The American Flower Garden 



instead of on hillsides, as in Italy, or on artificial embankments, 

 as in France and England, or in sunken enclosures, as in Holland. 

 In the absence of topiary experts here to trim specimen evergreens 

 and hedges into the startling forms abhorred by Pope, reliance 

 for decorative effect happily came to be placed almost entirely 

 upon flowers. The hedge, which usually took the place of an 

 enclosing wall, was never very severely pruned, although the indis 

 pensable boxwood borders for the parterres within the enclosure 

 were kept as neatly trimmed here as in the Old World. The 

 broadest garden paths were not very wide; the narrowest ones 

 allowed space for only one person. It was not considered good 

 designing, or planting, for any path to be seen except the one 

 that the observer was standing on. Hence the garden patterns 

 were often as intricate as a maze; or, if the design were simple, 

 tall growing flowers in the parterres might be relied on to conceal 

 the opposite paths. 



To the modern American the word alley has every unpleasant 

 association, but what delight his English forebears took in their 

 fragrant shady walks through leafy tunnels, the lovers of Eliza 

 bethan literature well known. A path that was &quot;quite over- 

 canopied with luscious woodbine&quot; in Shakespeare s day still fills 

 the printed page with its fragrance. Lord Bacon, in his oft quoted 

 essay &quot;Of Gardens,&quot; after enumerating &quot;the flowers and plants 

 that do best perfume the air,&quot; adds: &quot;But those which perfume 

 most delightfully, not passed by as the rest, but being trodden 

 upon and crushed are three: that is, Burnet, Wild Thyme, and 

 Water-Mints. Therefore you are to set out whole alleys of them 

 to have the pleasure when you walk or tread.&quot; 



These charming green alleyways, frequently paved or bordered 

 with fragrant herbs, were familiar to every well born French and 



