Camden Gardens 
sandy soil of middle and lower Carolina 
and Georgia ; it grows apace ; it stands the 
hot summer better than any other shrub 
or plant known to those localities, either in¬ 
digenous or transplanted ; as a result it was 
lavishly employed by the old gardeners of 
Camden, who, lacking our present rapid tran¬ 
sit systems, could not depend upon sending 
elsewhere for herbaceous plants, but were 
forced to rely on the natural supply of the 
section. The Sowell Garden, at Camden, has 
was the most useful evergreen in the hands 
of landscape gardeners in the far South. 
“ Holly Hedge,” a beautiful old garden at 
Camden, has various walks bordered with 
holly and one great arch of it which pic¬ 
turesquely illustrates the large ornamental 
uses to which the chief of Christmas ever¬ 
greens may lend itself. This garden also con¬ 
tains a well-trained hedge of white Cherokee 
roses, which, when full of flowers in the early 
spring, is indescribably lovely and most char- 
a hedge of South Carolina olive which in a 
photograph might easily be taken for a hedge 
of euonymus. This garden also affords some 
excellent specimens of the topiary art. Cedar 
was the shrub most commonly employed by 
the topiarians of this section, the mock-orange 
being a trifle too coarse-leaved to cut in any 
form smaller than a great arch. On the 
other hand, hedges of olive were possible ; 
even for the low ground hedges needed to 
surround the smallest flower beds. 
Next to the olive and the cedar, the holly 
acteristic ot the locality. The gardens of 
old Camden, even were they lacking the 
charming picturesque quality which they pos¬ 
sess, would still be valuable as illustrating 
the uses to which these plants, the holly and 
the olive, may be put. The cedar used in 
topiary work is, presumably, common cedar 
taken from the woods along with the olive 
and the holly and placed in good soil. At 
“Lausanne” may be seen some giant arches 
of common cedar, the rugged hirsute major 
branches of which bespeak great age. 
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