300 A MANUAL OF THE CONIFERS. 



seventeenth and during the early part of the eighteenth century. The 

 popularity of the Yew as an ornamental garden plant during this period 

 may be partly accounted for by the paucity of evergreen trees and 

 shrubs at that time available,* and the desire for variety created by 

 the taste for gardening which began to be general among all classes. 

 The practice gradually fell into disuse as the introduction of exotic 

 hardy trees and shrubs became more frequent, and supplied a more 

 natural and pleasing variety than the uncouth figures which one kind 

 of tree was made to take, but into which Nature never intended it to 

 grow. Many evidences of the old topiary work are still to be met 

 with, and not a few old Yews are made to retain the figures into 

 which they were originally cut and trimmed. Some of the most 

 remarkable of these are to be seen at Leven's Hall, "Westmoreland, 

 where the topiary foible of our horticultural predecessors is still main- 

 tained in all its quaint antagonism to Nature.! 



Not less striking but more modern, and, if we may use the ex- 

 pression, more rational, is the topiary work at Elvaston Castle, near 

 Derby, the seat of the Earl of Harrington. A large portion of this 

 consists of ornamental hedges of the common Yew, either dividing 

 parts of the grounds from each other, or enclosing spaces devoted to 

 special subjects ; and of single specimens, both of the common Yew 

 and its golden variety, cut into conical pyramids of uniform size and 

 height, and of such there are upwards of one thousand. There are 

 comparatively few representations of birds and animals ; the bolder 

 work represents • the walls and bastions of a Norman castle, archways, 

 alcoves, arbours, &c. The great extent of the topiary work at Elvaston 

 is calculated to excite surprise rather than admiration, at the same 

 time its extreme formality is greatly relieved by the noble Conifers of 

 the Eir and Pine tribe which have been planted beside and around 

 it with no sparing hand, and by the beautiful view afforded by the 

 river Derwent, in its winding course through the grounds. 



Throughout the counties of Kent and Sussex, and also in many 

 other parts of England, chiefly in the gardens of old farm houses and 

 wayside inns, may yet be seen an ancient Yew clipped into the figure 



* The number of native, evergreen trees and shrubs may be counted on the fingers, thus — 

 Yew, Scotch Pine, Juniper, Holly, Privet, Ivy, Butcher's Broom, Spurge Laurel, and Mistleto 

 (the Box is a doubtful native), and up to the close of the seventeenth century the number of 

 exotic evergreen trees introduced was not much greater, and some of them were very rare. The 

 best known were the Spruce Fir, Silver Fir, Stone Pine, Pinaster, Eed Cedar, Savin, Arbor 

 Vita?, Evergreen Oak, Sweet Bay, Laurustine, Portugal Laurel, Phillyrea, and Arbutus. 



t See the Gardeners' Chronicle for 1874, p. 264, where an account of the topiary work 

 at Leven's Hall is given, illustrated with woodcuts of some of the most remarkable groups 

 which include figures of the British Lion ; Queen Elizabeth and ladies ; the Judge's Wig, a 

 number of Yews planted in a half circle, so as to form an arbour by bringing the branches over 

 the top in a hood or wig-like fashion ; and many others. These figures were first formed early 

 in the eighteenth century, so that for upwards of one hundred and eighty years these 

 Yews must have had their young growth cut off to keep the figures within the prescribed shape 

 and size, a proof of the astonishing tenacity of life possessed by the Yew. 



