Although no actual shaping need be done to them until they are planted in their places in the garden where they are to remain, a little pruning and regulating of the shoots may be carried out. If that is done, it will be found to be a great advantage in adapting the trees to their future work. The buying of young trees from the nurserymen and growing them on in nursery beds in the reserve garden, until they are required for planting in the garden, is a system regularly practised here, and one that is well worth a trial. [Illustration: A VERDANT PEACOCK ] To the person desirous of having a Topiary garden there are two courses open. The first is, he can either train and shape his own trees, or else he can purchase from one or other of the nurserymen who make clipped yews a speciality, a ready-made collection. Trees that are clipped into all manner of shapes can now be purchased from some of the nurserymen either at home or imported from the Continent. The system of buying trees that are already shaped is an excellent way of getting a Topiary garden made and furnished with trees in the quickest possible time. But it is a plan that is not to be universally recommended or practised. In the first place, trees of that description generally have the very great drawback of being very expensive. Only those who have to deal with the training of yews have any idea how much labour and care is spent on a tree in shaping it into even the smallest bird; and it therefore stands to reason that the time and labour nurserymen spend on clipping and training Topiary trees, and preparing them for the market, must be paid for by the purchaser. But there is another, and perhaps an even greater objection in buying trees already trained. Surely the person who loves his garden and takes a great personal interest in Topiary work, would never think of planting it with trees that have already been cut into shapes by other hands. Although there is no question about the excellence of nursery trained trees, I would strongly recommend that the person who spends the time and money in forming and laying out a Topiary garden, should have the patience to undertake and carry through the training of his own trees. A far greater source of pleasure will be derived from watching your own trees grow, and from seeing them clipped and trained each year into the particular shape that it is intended they should represent.