FLOWER ENCLOSURES AND BORDERS 105 



best laid out with quiet lines, especially if the paths 

 are paved with stone, and if the centre is formed 

 with a square or oblong pool of water. On the 

 other hand, a garden enclosed by high walls or 

 hedges needs a concentration of design and will 

 stand much elaboration, the more so if the beds are 

 edged with yew or box, which lend themselves to 

 fanciful curves and re-entering angles. There are 

 a host of formal beds and parterres which can be 

 composed entirely of box or yew, traced in knots 

 and labyrinths and adorned with ornaments cut 

 from the same growth ; but these belong more 

 strictly to the topiary art, and will be described on 

 a later page. The repetition, however, of borders 

 one within another, as in the circles shown at St. 

 Alban's Court (fig. 45) or in the formal patterns at 

 Killarney (fig. 25), provides excellent material for 

 variety, while in nowise detracting from the exhi- 

 bition of the flowers. 



The remarks of a former page will be found to 

 apply to the boundary hedge and wall of the en- 

 closed garden, but it may be added here that wher- 

 ever a formal treatment is prepared in a confined 

 space it is possible to attempt a much greater 



