Page:Japanese Gardens (Taylor).djvu/144

90 beautiful in summer, for the rest of the year they are beautiful enough to more than compensate, for never were glossy leaves glossier than in this moist climate, and the Japanese clip them, to represent walls, so well that one is not infrequently led to think that solid masonry is underneath, and is covered with shining Ivy without. Sometimes the gateways go still further in imitation of fortress walls, for a bastion or a scarp is thrown out on each side of the entrance—not for defence, of course, but for privacy. In other words, the visitors at the gates do not command a view of the tea-table on the lawn.

Ilex is not infrequently used, and always makes a close, well-covered surface. It has a delicious, pungent smell, and its twigs are fine and strong like steel, so that it would withstand any amount of aggression. These twigs, and those of the Osage Orange of other hedges, are made into the toothpicks for which, in the East, Japan is so famous. Japanese Box, which is not so slow-growing as ours, but has the same sunny-garden smell, is also a favourite. These hedges do not attain a height of more than five or six feet; but those of the Camellia grow very much higher, up to fifteen or even eighteen feet, while the Cryptomerea will soar as high as you like, and still bristle, impassably, with fine bronze needles.

In Tokio, one sees a combination of bamboo