26 OLD-FASHIONED GARDENING 



gardeners wanted old Spain and all that was of old 

 Spain, here in New Spain; their hearts turned to the 

 old world for trees and flowers and fruits, regardless 

 of the generosity of Nature in the new. "All the 

 fruit trees (an indifferent sort of plum and a small 

 black cherry excepted)" wrote Stork, "have been im- 

 ported from Europe and thrive exceedingly well. 

 . . . The lemons, limes, citrons, pomegranates, 

 figs, apricots, peach, etc., grow here in high perfec- 

 tion." 



It has been and will be, forever the same. When 

 the Moors came into Spain they brought with them all 

 that they were able to bring, transforming the land of 

 the conquered with their arts and architecture. And 

 remote though they seem to us, their touch is felt here 

 on our shores, through all these centuries, in both the 

 dwellings and the gardens which the Spaniards made 

 for themselves. One plant particularly, which we 

 have curiously enough associated almost if not quite 

 exclusively with the Puritans, is used by the Moors; 

 and is nowhere lovelier than in the gardens of Spain. 

 This is boxwood; its use in Spanish gardens indicates 

 plainly that the design of the parterre immediately ad- 

 joining the Governor's house, which Stork has repro- 

 duced so faithfully, is not too fanciful to admit it here. 

 For it is planted in the most splendid and intricate 

 forms of heraldry in Spain; and here is a design which 



