VII GALLERIES, HEDGES 159 



square framing bound with osiers and wire. 

 At the foot of this in the spring or autumn 

 " you shall set white - thorn, eglantine, and 

 sweet-briar mixt together, and as they shall 

 shoot and grow up, so you shall wind and pleach 

 them within the lattice -work, making them 

 grow and cover the same," and always trimming 

 to the shape required. In about two or three 

 years, he says, you will get an excellent, strong 

 hedge. Evelyn in his Syha (Hawthorn) 

 criticises Markham's directions as to plashing, 

 and gives very full particulars as to the proper 

 method of forming a quick- set hedge. In 

 Herefordshire he notices that a crab-tree stock 

 was invariably planted every 20 feet apart in 

 the quick-set. For many years after Markham 

 wrote the custom of cutting the tops of hedges 

 into fanciful shapes continued in use. There is 

 a good example in yew at Cleeve Prior manor- 

 house, in Warwickshire, and the doves at Risley, 

 mentioned before. Evelyn claims that he was 

 the first to bring yew into fashion, not only for 

 hedges, but also as " a succedaneum to cypress, 

 whether in hedges or pyramids, cones, spires, 

 bowls, or what other shapes." Buttresses and 

 ramps, little square towers, finials of various 

 forms, archways and canopies were cut in yew 

 as late as the beginning of this century in out-of- 

 the-way places and in the smaller gardens. The 

 well-known instances at Arley, in Cheshire, and 

 Penshurst are not more than thirty-five years 



