THE GARDENS OF ITALY. 135 



by mixing the stone, crushed, with the outer layer of cement. Even 

 the pergola — pillars and roof — may now be reinforced cement 

 construction which, if well done, should last as well or better than 

 stone. 



The beautiful cypress is not hardy in our climate, but we have a 

 satisfactory substitute in the pyramidal arbor vitje, Tkui/a occi- 

 dentalis pyramidalis. 



Water may be profitably introduced as an element of garden 

 construction. Water pipes and basins must, however, be arranged 

 so as to be thoroughly drained off during winter to avoid injury by 

 frost. 



To maintain a continuous floral display the plants must be fre- 

 quently renewed. In many of the older gardens of Italy we find 

 the floral collection confined almost exclusively to pots and vases. 

 In an old garden in Naples last summer I found growing in pots and 

 vases amaryllis, agave, carnations, chives, chamaerops, chrysan- 

 themums, euonymus, lantana, pheasant-eye pink, pelargonium, 

 and phormium, while I found only fourteen kinds of flowering plants 

 growing in the grounds, of which only two — petunia and amaranth 

 — were in bloom. 



The Italian garden as a whole is not to be recommended for gen- 

 eral adaptation here. There are of course exceptional places like 

 two of our beautiful estates in Brookline, a new estate at Sharon, 

 Connecticut, and the vast estate of Biltmore, where it may be appro- 

 priately used. 



American conditions difl^er from those of any other country and 

 no imported style exactly fits them. Each garden location calls 

 for a particular style of treatment which will fit its conditions and 

 environment, and I am forced to the conclusion that in the majority 

 of cases the more natural the arrangement, the more satisfactory 

 will be the result. Wliere a formal treatment is inevitable, the 

 English terrace garden with a single parapet will usually be found 

 more satisfactory than the elaborate and expensive sixteenth cen- 

 tury garden, which the Italians themselves no longer build. 



