224 



GARDEN CRAFT IN EUROPE 



the author of Ichnographia Rustica and other important works in gardening, 

 and later on Bridgeman, who laid out Stowe in Buckinghamshire for Lord 

 Cobham about 1714. Bridgeman, amongst other changes, almost discarded 

 topiary work and, says Horace Walpole, " introduced a little gentle disorder 

 into the plantation of his trees and bushes." What great changes were 



CHILSON MANOR HOUSE, KENT. 



to result from this " little gentle disorder ! " Soon after this the reaction 

 began to set in. A taste for specimen trees, or " trees of curiosity " as they 

 were called, was fostered by the nurserymen gardeners ; the employment 

 of variegated foHage became more usual, and some difficulty having arisen 

 in accommodating the old fashions in garden craft to the new fashion in 

 specimen plants, the only solution of the problem that presented itself was 



