INTRODUCTION xxix 



accepts and understands the principles of formal 

 beauty, he will have no principles to go on except 

 principles of horticulture, which, however excellent 

 they may be, will not help him to solve many of his 

 most difficult problems, will not, for instance, tell 

 him when to leave nature alone and when to subdue 

 it to his own purposes. It is a main principle of formal 

 gardening that a gardener may do anything he chooses 

 with his materials to increase their use or beauty, 

 but that he must not play tricks upon them merely 

 to show how far he can pervert them from the course 

 of nature. Thus, where a tree or shrub is grown for 

 its own sake, to clip it is to spoil its natural beauty 

 for no reason. But, when trees or shrubs are used to 

 make a hedge, clipping increases their beauty as it 

 increases their use. A hedge, properly used, is only 

 a kind of living wall, and you can see at a glance that 

 it is grown not for its own sake, but to serve as a wall. 

 So, whatever treatment makes a better wall of it is 

 justified; and the formal gardener will not try to con- 

 ceal his living walls, but will make them play a part 

 in the beauty of his design. He will see that they 

 are of the finest materials of yew, or box, or holly, 

 not of privet or laurel; and he will clip them care- 

 fully, so that they grow solid and even. Hedges of 

 this kind, well grown and well placed, will serve as 

 divisions of different parts of the garden, as shelters 

 for the flowers, and also as frames to set off their 

 beauty. Every one must feel the charm of well-kept 

 yew hedges in an old garden, and the secret of that 



