20 
THE FLOWER GARDEN. 
were in those days considered to be the perfection of garden 
design. Examples of such gardens still exist at Elvaston Hall, 
Derbyshire, and Levens Hall, Westmoreland. Specimens of 
such clipped trees are also to be seen in many country cottage 
gardens. In the last century, however, taste in such matters 
underwent a radical change, and few gardens were thenceforth 
fashioned on such lines. A few decades ago, however, rich 
owners of palatial gardens again revived the fashion, and 
hence a large demand has arisen for topiary-trained trees, 
Fig. 9. TOPIARY WORK. 
A Yew tree clipped and trained to resemble a peacock. A style 
of garden decoration not to be encouraged. Facetiously known as 
“ Barber’s Gardening ’’ or “ Vegetable Sculpture.” 
several of our nurserymen making a speciality of their pro- 
duction. In our humble opinion this style of gardening is 
wholly unworthy of imitation in this country. Trees and 
shrubs grown in a natural way have a far more beautiful and 
pleasing appearance in our gardens than the foregoing hideous 
formal example of the prison barber’s misplaced genius. Any 
labour to be expended upon clipping should be confined to 
hedges where it is of some practical and useful service. See 
Fig. 9. 
Arches. — In regard to arches, these are often overdone in 
small gardens. The real use of an arch in a garden is to form 
