174 OLD-FASHIONED GARDENING 



Nearly all his gardens are squares, with beds shaped 

 to fit along walls and into the comers. This gives 

 to many of them the L form, to some the T. He sug- 

 gests the middle of one side of the flower garden as a 

 suitable site for a summer-house, which shall serve also 

 as a countinghouse for the garden's wealth of precious 

 bulbs when these are dug for storing. He insists upon 

 a hotbed and a "Nurcery" — ^but does not say where 

 they shall be put. 



Dutch influence was so strong in all garden design, 

 in every part of the world, at this time, that there 

 seems very little to say of the Dutch as a separate 

 class of designers. Squares on squares, squares in 

 squares, and squares ranged around a circle — these 

 are the basis of the Dutch designs. Elongated some- 

 times to an oblong form they are, when the circle is 

 drawn out also into an oval; but curiously enough, 

 this is done only on the vertical axis — on the straight- 

 away from the view point — ^being intended to over- 

 come perspective and create the illusion of a perfect 

 square and circle! The foreshortening of a square 

 narrows it of course to a seemingly oblong form, lying 

 broadside to the observer. If the dimension which is 

 thus seemingly diminished is actually lengthened just 

 the right amount, the laws of perspective present it 

 to the eye as equal to the actual length of the hori- 

 zontal dimension; and thus the Dutchman's beloved 



