European and Japanese Gardens 



of a place may simply serve as a background, a j^reat drop- 

 scene, which finishes the \'iew and lea\es one in doubt as to 

 how much more there may be beyond. Many a small place of 

 two or three acres gives an impression at once of seclusion and 

 of size, because the great trees pre\'ent one's seeing what lies 

 beyond. The larger places will, of course, have their copse 

 and woodland ; but even here the marks of axe, mattock and 

 saw show that thoroughness and care, and that eye to profit 

 which per\'ade everything ; for dead wood is always cleared 

 out, the spindling trees are felled, the brushwood is cut and tied 

 in fagots. Everywhere there are signs of an old industry, a 

 well-worked country, where e\erything must be turned to 

 account. When one wanders through English gardens and 

 feels all their delight, one cannot but be con\inced that com- 

 mon-sense and thrift are the roots on which the beauty has 

 grown and thrived. 



A HEDGE GATEWAY 



93 



