132 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



in the retaining walls, in some of which were erected statues for 

 ornament, and in others benches where one might enjoy a sun 

 batii quite protected from any chilling breeze. Another terrace 

 would be an extensive pergola, affording a pleasant, shady pro- 

 menade which the summer sun could not penetrate, and where the 

 inmate might listen to the dripping water from the fountains on a 

 terrace yet below. 



It was in these hillside gardens that the great possibilities of 

 landscape effect dawned upon the designer. The immediate 

 environment, often uninviting, had to be obscured. If the })rotect- 

 ing wall ten or twelve feet high was insufficient screen, it could be 

 supplemented by a screen of cipresso, the delicate cypress, the fine 

 foliage scales of which distinguished it from the pines and firs, and 

 the graceful tapering form of which carries the gaze of the observer 

 to the distant surroundings. In these hillside gardens there were 

 usually two flights of steps, protected at least on one side with para- 

 pet walls or balustrades. The purpose of the arrangement was, if 

 possible, to render the hillside more habitable and make it as it were 

 an outer living room. 



It must be noted that thnnigh these stages of development the 

 Italian garden remained strictly formal, and its lines were made 

 to harmonize with those of the architecture to which it was linked. 

 It had three chief elements — marble, water, and the foliage — 

 flowers were incidental. 



An enlargement of the hillside villa marked the third stage of evo- 

 lution, and brings us to the elaborate garden of the Renaissance. 

 The terrace was broadened into an elaborate geometrically aranged 

 area, in which were disposed sculpture, statuary, sundials, and 

 benches of marble. Flower beds were arranged in elaborate 

 geometrical design, and numerous architectural features were 

 introduced, such as well-heads, pergolas, fountains, cascades, and 

 other ornaments. 



It is this enlarged garden, in its great variety of character and 

 feature, yet always rigidly formal, that has aroused so much interest 

 and the desire on the part of many garden lovers in this country to 

 reproduce it here. 



About Naples we find the slopes of the hills covered with compact 

 walled villas arranged with convenient paths, a few cypresses stand- 



