ON THE EFFECT OF CLIPPED TREES IN DECORATIVE GARDENING 
61 
THEATRE OF CYPRESSES. 
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istic feature in Italian scenery: indeed, an Italian landscape without Cypresses, or an English one en¬ 
tirely without Poplars, might be compared to the view of a city without steeples, the monotony of which 
would be insupportable to an eye seeking artistically for agreeable and striking combinations of form. 
From this it will be understood that the writer would prefer a geometrical flower garden, 
the monotony of which was broken up and varied by a few lofty and finely-grouped objects, to one 
of uninterrupted flatness, varied only by patches of colour. Other advantages would also be obtained; 
for instance, within the newly enclosed circuit of the group of tall trees, there would be a space where 
certain plants, which suffer from too much sun might be more successfully cultivated than elsewhere, 
and even on the north side of these trees certain shade-loving flowers would find an appropriate 
situation. In addition to these advantages, and the improvement to the first general view, a certain 
legitimate degree of intricacy would be attained, which is always agreeable. All could not be seen 
at one superficial glance—something choice would be imagined within the well-hedged circle; and 
beyond it, and on either side, would be certain partially concealed portions of garden, which one 
would be thus tempted to explore. In the midst of an irregularly-planned flower-garden, I would 
scarcely recommend such an object as the “ Theatre of Cypresses,” but as a good centre to a geometric 
plan, I think it could not be otherwise than effective and agreeable, and at this time, when all effects 
to be produced by cropping have been so completely abandoned, it would be a positive novelty. 
The example (p. 60 ) is also from an Italian garden and is styled an “amphitheatre of verdure” 
“ amphiteatro di verdura .” The introduction of a somewhat similar feature in an English garden 
might in some instances be very successful, but more especially, as in the former case, in a geometric one. 
Let us suppose a secluded flower-garden terminated on one side, perhaps, by a terrace near the house, 
and on the three others by shrubberies. From either side of the terrace, an arcade of cropped Limes 
might separate the trim flower-garden from the free growing shrubbery, and at the end, opposite the 
terrace, the garden might with good effect terminate with the amphiteatro di verdura. Trimness of 
form thus exhibiting itself, not only on the ground, in the turf, and the form of the beds, &c., but also 
above the eye, in the outline of these sculptured Limes, thus giving greater completeness to the geo¬ 
metric character of the general composition. The trunks of the Limes might either be covered with 
hardy climbing Loses, or by a little careful management clothed with their own foliage as in the Italian 
