228 OLD-FASHIONED GARDENING 
here; no one ever mentions it, and apparently it 
yielded to the box, even as in England it yielded to 
the yew, in spite of its very superior merits as topiary 
material. Holly was used here, as there, but only in 
the South, where also the wild orange or mock olive 
furnished an additional evergreen, willing to stand 
shearing. 
None of these things were “cut, lead or drawn,” 
into any but the simplest forms, however. Pyramids, 
a succession of umbrella-like layers along up the trunl* 
of a tree, and hedges sheared to accurate lines were the 
limits, probably, of the skill of the workers available 
here, for one thing. But the variable climate which 
we enjoy is, and was, against the success of topiary 
art; for hands, arms, weapons and appendages gen¬ 
erally—even entire heads—are likely to succumb to a 
winter’s caprice of frost and ice and sunshine. And 
once a topiary man loses his head, he is about as use¬ 
less as a real one under the same misfortune, for it is 
almost as difficult for him to grow another. 
The maze or labyrinth found greater favor here, 
and was regarded as a huge joke and clever, even as in 
the old world. The Dutch were probably directly 
responsible for its presence in England and here, but 
this, too, is a plaything of very ancient lineage. Some 
were planted thickly “and to a man’s height,” while 
others, little toys, were set with the same herbs that 
