WALLS AND HEDGES 83 



for a similar purpose, and decrease its height at given 

 points for the advantage of the view or to discover 

 some fine mass of foliage. 



More particularly do these considerations of plan 

 and elevation apply to cut hedges of yew, box, 

 beech, and the like ; for, pre-eminent as these 

 hedges are as division boundaries for the garden, 

 they are not susceptible of the same architectural 

 treatment as a wall of brick or stone. Nothing 

 gives greater dignity, even majesty, to the garden 

 than the giant hedges of clipped yew that we have 

 inherited from the past. And for the reason just 

 given we shall find that these hedges have been 

 planted in a hundred different ways to obtain every 

 advantage in plan and skyline for the interplay of 

 light and shade, by means of which so much beauty 

 is added to their ponderous masses of dark green. 

 It is thus important in planting these hedges to 

 have in view a definite aim which shall be fulfilled 

 when they come to maturity. 



We shall return to the subject of the yew hedge 

 on a later page, to discuss its peculiar adaptability 

 to the shaping and fashioning of wonderful forms 

 which, though condemned by some garden lovers, 



