Indian Gardens 
then planted in pairs along the inner edges 
of the borders, BB' of the flower beds. 
About 1850 these had perished and new ones 
were replanted in the lines BB' on the outer 
edges of the flower beds. Our illustration, 
from a photograph taken about thirty years 
ago, shows the effect of this change. Another 
great drought killed the trees, and two or 
three years ago they were replanted in a con¬ 
tinuous row in the centres of the flower beds. 
Now it is obvious that in the avenue which 
is the main approach to the Taj, the Taj 
itself is the chief point to consider, not the 
trees. Let us then compare the different 
effect of the three lines of cypresses, AA', BB' 
and CC' in their relation to the Taj, the point 
of view being the central platform. 1 he 
two diagrams on page 183, in which the 
architectural composition is reduced to its 
simplest elements, are sufficient to show 
these differences, for the effect of the lines 
AA' and CC' are nearly the same, so far as 
the architecture is concerned. In the first 
diagram it will be noticed that the cvpresses 
as a mass frame in the 
chief division of the 
front of the Taj. Each 
row of trees, at the end 
nearest the building, 
terminates just under 
the springing of the 
great dome, and carries 
the eye up to its incom¬ 
parable contour. No 
artist or architect could 
believe that the Mo¬ 
guls, if they planted 
cypresses in these par¬ 
terres at all, would have 
done otherwise; for any 
lines which go inside of 
these, as AA' and CC', 
are disastrous to the 
composition, because 
the cypresses, instead of 
supporting the dome, 
seem as it were to un¬ 
dermine it, and to 
elongate very unpleas¬ 
antly the proportions 
of the great alcove in 
which the entrance 
door is placed. It is 
184 
quite conceivable that there were no cypresses 
at all along these flower beds. They might 
very possibly have been planted only along 
the edges of the square plots, thus making a 
still wider avenue than either of the three lines 
we have discussed; but the artistic objections 
to both the lines AA' and CC' are to my 
mind unanswerable. 
If the cypress avenues on the latter lines 
fail to satisfy artistic considerations, they are 
equally unsatisfactory from an archaeological 
point of view, for the plan of the whole 
garden shows clearly that the water channel 
and the flower beds on either side of it must 
be treated in the design as one space (as 
they are by the native historian quoted above) 
and not as three separate spaces. This being 
the case, the outer lines BB' are the only 
possible ones for cypresses, as the Moguls 
always planted cypresses at the corners or 
on the edges of their flower beds, never in 
the middle. 
Having thus cleared the ground, let us 
try to plant out the central avenue as the 
Moguls might have 
done it. We will as¬ 
sume that there were 
flower beds and cy¬ 
presses planted along 
them. The form of 
the geometric pattern 
seems to suggest that 
the latter would be 
planted in pairs, as 
they were in 1828. So 
we will accept Colonel 
Hodgson’s plan as cor¬ 
rect in this respect, only 
we will remove them 
from the inner to the 
outer borders of the 
beds and thus restore 
them to the line shown 
in the f ollowing illustra¬ 
tion, which is surely 
the most beautiful of 
all modern representa¬ 
tions of the gardens. 
Taking a hint from 
the Oriental carpet 
design, let us plant a 
plum-tree between 
each pair of cypresses. 
ALTERNATING METHODS OF PLANTING 
CYPRESSES 
