A COMMON SENSE GARDEN 33 



been literally painted in the wooded slopes and 

 dells, so softly do their graceful forms and chang- 

 ing colours blend with the various shapes and 

 shades of the deciduous trees among which they 

 are set. 



At Mt. Vernon the paths are enclosed with Box 

 hedges and the parterres are edged with the same 

 bitter-sweet shrub. After a century and more of 

 growth and care these hedges and edgings have 

 reached a perfection that is the envy and despair 

 of every would-be gardener who views them for 

 the first time. 



The dominant note of the whole enclosure is 

 Box. Its pungent odour, so disagreeable to some 

 people, to others sweeter than all the perfumes 

 of Araby, hangs ever on the air, permeates the 

 farthermost nooks and corners with its memory- 

 awakening spell. These hedges have an exas- 

 perating smoothness and softness of colouring that 

 have been gradually absorbed from the suns and 

 snows of many seasons which it would be useless 

 to hope to reproduce in a few years. 



As at Mt. Vernon, so the yards and gardens of 

 New England were dominated by this matchless 



