1 66 THE FORMAL GARDEN IN ENGLAND vii 



walks from 12 to 24 feet wide, separated from 

 the trees by palisades. The trees in these 

 groves were not supposed to exceed 40 feet in 

 height or thereabouts, and they might either 

 have underwood or not, as desired. Where 

 there was no underwood, trees — such as limes, 

 elms, or horse-chestnuts — were to be planted in 

 regular lines at right angles to each other, the 

 stems kept bare for 10 feet and the trees 

 set out about 15 feet apart. The ground 

 underneath was either fine gravelled, or laid 

 with grass. In the latter case a circle about 

 4 feet across, without grass, was to be left 

 round each tree. There are good examples ot 

 groves laid out to a regular design at Wrest 

 and Melbourne, but the best instances of this 

 sort of work are to be found in France. In 

 many towns and villages on the banks of the 

 Seine between Paris and Rouen, and elsewhere 

 in France, there are charming groves of 

 lime-trees, symmetrically planted and regularly 

 cHpped. The groves at Versailles are still 

 much as Le Notre left them. The great 

 walks of lime-trees, close trimmed for 20 feet 

 or more, and the halls cleared in the groves 

 and set out with statues are very beautiful 

 on a sunny day ; but the rest of the work 

 is dull, and there can be no doubt that this 

 kind of work does require great space and 

 great expense to be seen to perfection. In The 

 Theory and Practice of Gardening forty-four 



