my ON 
FORMAL AND LANDSCAPE PLANTING 39 
an amount of labour not easily realised by those who 
have not attempted to do so. There can be no doubt, 
too, that the near presence of hungry evergreens is 
prejudicial to roses and tender plants on account of the 
nourishment they demand, and the idea that they act as 
harbourage to insect and other pests is also well founded. 
Their merit consists in the fact that they form an 
admirable shelter, certainly the best obtainable after 
walls and fences, and a certain old-world air of pic- 
turesque dignity which they impart. Despite this, their 
use is constantly overdone; they are planted to dis- 
traction, dividing the garden into chess-board squares 
and alleys leading nowhere; they render the soil sour 
and cold, exclude sunlight, and sooner or later wear an 
appearance of gloomy desolation, especially in the 
cheerless days of winter and late autumn. Had they 
been used sparingly, instead of to excess, it is possible 
they would still be regarded with the favour they once 
enjoyed, for we must not forget the charm of the old 
manorhouse gardens, where yew hedges were, and still 
are, true ornaments, because highly appropriate. It is 
all a question of environment, and the greatest discretion 
is needed when transferring a feature of this description 
to modern surroundings, depriving it in the process of 
its old traditions—a relic of the past in a new and often 
incongruous setting. A yew hedge sometimes looks 
wel] when used as a boundary between the flower and 
vegetable garden, a convenient arch or archways being 
cut to afford communication from one to the other. A 
level top is preferable to one cut into semi-circular 
hollows or crenelations ; and any further embellishment, 
such as standard trees with oddly-shaped heads planted 
at intervals, is certainly to be avoided. 
Isolated trees, whether yew, box, mopheaded acacias 
or holly, are objects of pity to the lover of natural beauty, 
when he sees them transferred by the shears into cones, 
