GARDEN DESIGN IN THE NETHERLANDS 199 



The gardens at Rosendaal, Twickel near Delden, Zuylesteyn, Ameringen, 

 Middachten near Dieren, all retain some of their original features. 



Magnificent gardens were designed at Clingendaal and also at Gunter- 

 stein. The former occupied an immense oblong piece of land divided into 

 square plots by numerous canals. The Bloemenfark terminated in a large 

 Vyver crossed by bridges which led to a bosquet, and beyond were exten- 

 sive fruit gardens and more fishponds. Gunterstein was planned upon a 

 triangular piece of land and had a large bosquet and labyrinth some little 

 distance from the house. Here the orangery had a courtyard enclosed 

 within high walls, the piers of which were decorated with full size leaden 

 statues (p. 176). Both of these gardens have entirely disappeared, but 

 complete monographs with delightful little illustrations were published by 

 Nicholas Vischer. 



In their smallness of scale the old Dutch gardens resemble those of 

 Japan, though in all their other characteristics they are entirely different. 

 Kaempfer, who whilst in the service of the Dutch East Indian Company 

 visited Japan in 1690, gives a quaint description of the smaller gardens, 

 many of which were laid out upon a space no more than 30 feet square. 

 " If there be not room enough for a garden," he writes, " they have at least 

 an old ingrotted plane or cherry tree. The older, the more crooked and 

 monstrous this tree is, the greater value they put upon it." Similarly, in 

 the Dutch garden, no tree could be admitted until its growth had been 

 stunted, and only those flowers like the tulip could be allowed to engross the 

 space without danger of spoiling the composition. It was for this reason 

 that topiary work became so important a feature in every small garden, that 

 it came to be looked upon as a purely Dutch invention. 



In many of the smaller towns of North Holland, where the houses 

 are closely packed together, gardens were designed upon the smallest scale, 

 always surrounded by a moat and in most cases approached by a draw- 

 bridge. The Dutchman is even more than the Englishman master of his own 

 castle. The approaches to these miniature fortresses are sometimes by 

 fixed bridges, but more often by draw or swing bridges which are designed 

 in a variety of ingenious ways, and, painted in tones of green and black or 

 white, they impart a most picturesque aspect to the village streets. The 

 little gardens themselves are full of quaint ideas and seem to have been made 

 for children. The paths are scarcely wide enough to walk upon, and the 



