80 ORNAMENTAL GARDENING 



to show his skill in ornamental planting; putting out rows of 

 palms alternated with Chinese Hibiscus, it may be. 



I have in front of my house a couple of acres of high, rocky 

 hammock and I have always considered it the most valuable 

 asset on the place, not to cut down and plant, but to keep in 

 its natural beauty. It became necessary to cut an opening 

 through it immediately in front of the house in order that I 

 might carry a walk down to the bay, and to have a peep across 

 the water. This I was fortunately able to do with but very little 

 cutting, as it happened that the narrowest part of the hammock 

 was at that point. Only a couple of old, partly decayed trees 

 had to be cut and a small amount of unimportant young stuff, 

 and when the irregular opening was cleared out, not over thirty 

 feet wide anywhere, I had a lovely view out over the water. 

 Across this vista one can watch the passing boats and it serves 

 as a passage through which cold air during northers can pass. 



I have cut out a narrow trail, just wide enough for a single 

 person, getting down on my knees in the thick scrub, and working 

 it out with a hatchet. Nothing of any value was destroyed in 

 cutting out this walk, for where I came in contact with any 

 choice tree or small thing I worked around it and left it standing. 

 This trail was apparently cut without any particular purpose, 

 but in no case did it come near enough to the edge of the wood 

 to permit one to see out of it. At the same time it went pretty 

 well around the hammock and did not, at any point, approach 

 near enough to itself so that it was possible to see across. By 

 this means the impression was created that this bit of wood 

 was quite a considerable forest, and visitors have supposed that 

 it contained twenty acres. 



I led the trail to all the objects of interest in the little wood; 

 here a great live oak whose branches spread widely over the 

 lower growth in the forest; there to a grand specimen of cab- 

 bage palmetto; again to another oak which had been overthrown 

 in a hurricane long ago, and which had sent up vigorous stems 

 only to be overturned a second time, so that at last its branches 

 were a strange tangle. Here it passes under a large tree that had 

 probably sometime been partly overthrown in a gale and which 

 now forms a wonderful arch, under which the path was carried. 



