94 
Old Time Gardens 
yards. I have never seen Box in ancient burying- 
grounds, they were usually too neglected to be thus 
planted ; but it was given a limited space in the 
cemeteries of the middle of this century. Even 
those borders have now generally been dug up to 
give place to granite copings. 
The scent of Box has been aptly worded by Ga- 
briel d’Annunzio, in his Virgin of the Rocks , in his 
description of a neglected garden. He calls it a 
c< bitter sweet odor,” and he notes its influence in 
making his wanderers in this garden “ reconstruct 
some memory of their far-off childhood.” 
The old Jesuit poet Rapin writing in the seven- 
teenth century tells a fanciful tale that — 
“ Gardens of old, nor Art, nor Rules obey’d, 
But unadorn’d, or wild Neglect betray’d ; ” 
that Flora’s hair hung undressed, neglected “in art- 
less tresses,” until in pity another nymph “ around 
her head wreath’d a Boxen Bough ” from the fields ; 
which so improved her beauty that trim edgings 
were placed ever after — “where flowers disordered 
once at random grew.” 
He then describes the various figures of Box, the 
way to plant it, its disadvantages, and the associate 
flowers that should be set with it, all in stilted verse. 
Queen Anne was a royal enemy of Box. By her 
order many of the famous Box hedges at Hampton 
Court were destroyed ; by her example, many old 
Box-edged gardens throughout England were rooted 
up. There are manifold objections raised to Box 
besides the dislike of its distinctive odor : heavy 
