TOPIARY ‘= 
_ examples of Topiary work on a large scale still exist 
in several British gardens.” Turning to the very 
recent ‘‘ Cassell’s Dictionary of Gardening” an all too 
concise account is found, but Mr W. P. Wright admits 
therein that Topiary ‘finds favour in many quarters 
to-day, although it only differs in degree and not in 
principle from the best examples of the Topiary art of 
the sixteenth century.” 
Encyclopedias tell us very little of Topiary, and even 
that monumental work the ‘‘ Encyclopedia Britannica” 
contains within its portly tomes no reference to so 
historically interesting a subject, unless it be curiously 
hidden away. And even that very useful work 
‘©Chambers’s Encyclopedia” passes over Topiary as 
though such an art never existed. 
To students of Etymology the word Topiary itself is 
of considerable interest. For the present work it must 
suffice to say that it is derived from the Latin fopiarius, 
pertaining to ornamental gardening. One dictionary 
definition or meaning of the word is ‘‘shaped by cutting 
or clipping” and horticulturists will agree that this 
definition is both clever and descriptive, for ‘Topiary 
work consists in giving all kinds of more or less fanciful 
forms to trees, hedges, and arbours. 
An interesting reference is made in the “ History of 
Oxfordshire” to the use of the phrase ‘* Topiary Work.” 
It is stated therein that ‘‘at Hampton Court, which was 
laid out about the middle of the reign of Henry VIII. 
by Cardinal Wolsey, there was a labyrinth, which still 
exists, covering only the quarter of an Acre of ground, 
yet its walks extending by their volutions over nearly 
halfamile. The walls also were covered with Rosemary. 
It was also long celebrated for its trees cut into grotesque 
forms, which Dr Plot admired and dignified with the 
name of Topiary Works.” 
