Introduction. 



xxxix. 



twelve to fourteen years to come to a full growth of six feet to seven feet. Box and 

 holly would be rather slower than yew ; privet, thorn and hornbeam faster, but 

 as these would have to be cut down nearly to the ground after their first twelvemonth's 

 growth, they would make very little show for the first two years. These are fairly 

 average indications of growth, but on some sites the rate of increase would be 

 considerably more. 



It must be confessed that the gardener who is drawn towards topiary work needs 

 to be equipped with ample patience and the prophetic eye. Without these qualities 

 he will not be prepared to de- 

 vise a scheme which must take 

 many years to mature. Given 

 foresight and patience, however, 

 there is nothing unreasonable 

 in attempting, even on a very 

 small site, a conscious scheme 

 of shaped hedges on lines quite 

 elaborate. Bridge End Garden 

 at Saffron Walden is especially 

 interesting in this connection, 

 because its treatment, as shown 

 by plan in Fig. xxv. and by 

 photographs in Figs, xxiii., xxiv. 

 and xxvi., covers an area of no 

 more than one hundred and 

 twenty-one feet by one hundred 

 and seventy-three feet, which 

 amounts to a little less than half 

 an acre. This garden was laid 

 out some seventy years ago by 

 the late Mr. Francis Gibson, a 

 cultivated amateur, who had 

 the courage to break through 

 the dreary traditions of land- 

 scape gardening which obsessed 

 people in the eighteen-forties. 

 At the east end of the garden 

 an iron platform has been built, 

 with a stair of access from 

 which the visitor may survey 

 the whole scheme, and that 

 is the view-point taken by the 

 camera in Fig. xxiv. From this and from the plan it is clear how cleverly the yews 

 have been spaced and the beds shaped. In the middle of the round grass plat is a 

 lily pool, and kneeling on a column is a lead Triton, whose horn serves as fountain. 

 The figure is almost an exact replica of one in the Rijks Museum at Amsterdam. 

 The Bridge End Garden should stimulate anyone who has patience and half an acre 

 unplanted to emulate its charms. It has the further merit of being visible at all 

 times, for its present owner, the Right Hon. Lewis Fry, allows access to it 

 throughout the year, a privilege which the folk of Saffron Walden very fully 

 appreciate. 



FIG. XXIX. AT THE DORMY HOUSE I THE PERGOLA. 





