House and Garden 
THE GREAT FOUNTAIN 
H ere in summer is an abundance of flowers, 
consisting of a great variety of roses, large 
beds of verbenas, heliotrope and geraniums. 
Near the surrounding trees, rhododendrons 
thrive, and their early burst into bloom is 
one of the finest sights 
at Herrenhausen. There 
are no curbs or hedges to 
the paths, and the area 
has the vast openness so 
characteristic of the parks 
of France. Twenty co¬ 
lossal sandstone statues 
of antique heroes, stand¬ 
ing at the corners formed 
by the paths, ornament 
this great stretch of par¬ 
terres, in the center of 
which the walks encircle 
a pool where gold-fish 
disport in the purest 
water between groups of 
jetting fountains. 
At one side of the 
Luststiick is the garden 
theatre, a most interesting feature designed 
to amuse bygone rulers. Beneath arching 
trees, making a sylvan vault overhead, are 
the coulisses , formed of high hedges, and the 
stage decorated with rows of statues. The 
amphitheatre opposite comprises seven ter¬ 
races, where numerous spectators were ac¬ 
commodated to view the open-air perform¬ 
ances which were held before the Hanoverian 
Court in the middle of the last century. 
Passage from the Luststiick to the next sec¬ 
tion of the garden is made between a series of 
quadrangles walled by high hedges and en¬ 
closing ponds in which German carp are reared. 
The entire remainder of the garden is 
traversed by hedges of hornbeam, forming 
large squares and dividing the intervening 
space into small triangular plots devoted to 
the propagation of fruit and vegetables and 
of shrubbery intended to take the place of 
that which fails or dies on the ground from 
time to time. A number of these minor 
walks comprise a square which lies in a diag¬ 
onal relation to the general plan. Where 
its corners intersect the large boundary ave¬ 
nues are open semicircular areas, the exten¬ 
sion of the gravel walks. Frequent signs 
announce that the greater part of these walks 
are for pedestrians, and vehicles are permit¬ 
ted only on the two central avenues. 
Beside one of the wider drives is a mon¬ 
ument to the Electress Sophie, reared on the 
spot where she died from a paralytic stroke, 
THE MONUMENT TO THE ELECTRESS SOPHIE 
