NOTES ON GARDEN DESIGN 155 



and an excellent protection against cold winds. The West 

 Garden at Sandringham, described in Chapter X., is probably 

 the finest example in this country of the formal and wild 

 method of garden-planning. And the grounds at Bagshot 

 Park, also, are laid out on these principles with the most 

 striking success. 



In designing formal gardens it is well to make use of 

 knowledge acquired in many years' experience by painters. 

 Artists know that horizontal lines in a picture have a ten- 

 dency to give it a quality of calm and space, that vertical 

 lines or tall upright objects suggest dignity, impressive- 

 ness and even melancholy when carried to excess — what, for 

 instance, is more solemn than the upright trunks in a huge 

 pine forest, or the columns of a vast cathedral ?— and that 

 rounded masses will counteract these tendencies and help 

 to complete the design. So, too, in a garden. A sense of 

 repose and spaciousness is conveyed by level lines of parterre, 

 terrace and lawn ; and a judicious use of tall 'pillar' trees — 

 such as cypress, Irish yew, certain hollies, junipers and conifers 

 — will add dignity and a feeling of not unpleasant melancholy. 

 But if too many, or over prominent, these trees (and other 

 objects of a similar general shape) will excite an emotion of 

 monotonous sadness. Then, the grace of rounded masses 

 of shrubs (clipped or natural) and trees — especially the light 

 feathery ones like acacia, birch and willow — will correct 

 any too strong inclination towards solemn formality. An 

 instance of the treatment here suggested may be seen 

 carried out to perfection in the West Garden at Sandringham. 

 A most agreeable effect of dignity and repose has been 

 created by the introduction of upright golden hollies and 

 trim yews arnong the gay flowers and horizontal lines of 

 an exquisite parterre. And the garden is saved from a too 

 great formality by masses of foliage and shrubs (taking a 

 more or less rounded form) in the background, and among 

 flowers at the feet of the more formal trees. 



At most of the places in a garden whence it can be seen 

 to special advantage, a ' point of interest ' should be made ; 



