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GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



(OF AMERICA) 

 Devoted to the Science of Floriculture and Horticulture 



■ Vol. XXV 



DECEMBER. 1921 



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No. 12 ■ 



The Footpath To Peace 



To be g/orf of life, because it gives you the clmnce to love and lo uvrk and lo flay and to loot: iif> at 

 the stars: to be satisfied with your possessions, but not eontenled n'ith yourself until you have nuide the 

 best of them; to despise nothing in the 'i'orld except falsehood and meanness, and to fear nothing except 

 cozvardice; to be governed by your admirations rather than by your disgusts: lo covet nothing that is 

 your neighbor's except his kindness of heart and gentleness of numners: lo think seldom of your enemies, 

 often of your friends, and c-i'crv day of Christ: and lo spend as much time as you can. u-ith body and 

 zmth spirit, in God's out-of-doors. These are Utile :.;nideposls on the foolhpalh to peace. — Hknry Van 

 Dyke. 



Things and Thoughts of the Garden 



MONTAGUE FREE 



BY the time we had toured Warwick suffificntlw the 

 day was well advanced, and it was tCM) late to think 

 of making the trip to Shakespeare's hirthplace ; so, 

 acting upon a hint dropped by Mr. Small, we decided to 

 visit the public s^ardens of Royal Leamington Spa. dis- 

 tant about two miles. This town is a famous health re- 

 sort, l>ecause of its saline springs, and as a result there is 

 always a large visiting population. As usually happens 

 luider the>e conditions, the town authorities exert them- 

 selves to make tiie city as attractive as possil>le. 



L'pon reaching tlie town we found that the encomiums 

 that had l)een showered upon its i)ublic gardens were 

 entirely deserved. The park occupies an area of consid- 

 erable extent along one bank of the river Leam, a tribu- 

 tary of the Avon. The op])osite side of the river is 

 taken up with private houses, with gardens stretching 

 down lo the river l)ank', adding greatly to the attractive- 

 ness of the park. 



Tlie most important features of Leamington's public 

 gardens are to l)e found in the rather unorthodox l>edding 

 arrangements. There are possibly thirty beds, elliptical 

 in shape, alxjut twenty feet by eight, cut in the lawn on 

 the circumference of a circle having a radius of about 

 tw'o hundred feel, with a band stand in the center. They 

 ditifer from the usual formal garden beds in that they 

 are occupied by a selection of hardy herbaceous peren- 

 nials as well as tlie more usual half-hardy and tender 

 bedding plants. There have been many advocates of this 

 style of bedding, especially in England, who claim that 

 it is c(iually as showy as the orthodox style, that it avoids 

 the monotony inseparal)le from formal Ix-dding, and is 

 much less ex])ensive. The results obtained at Leaming- 

 ton would indicate that there is a great deal of truth in 

 these contentions, for at the time of our visit the l>eds 

 were a blaze of color, and close inspection revealed the 



fact that there had been a constant succession of flowers 

 from early Spring onwards. 



.\11 of the beds were ditTerent and the material used 

 was not ])lanted in lines but in irregular groups. A list 

 of the plants used in two of the beds will give a good 

 idea of their general appearance. 



in one bed were: Cosmos in variety, doid^le perennial 

 sunflowers, Clirysaiitliriiuini ma.vimmii, snapdragons, 

 -IgcraUtut, Pnifslriuon, stocks, Erigcron and Tagctc.^. 



Vnother haci : Hcleniiim aittiimiialc, tall perennial 

 a.sters, snapdragons, Papaver oricntalr. Delphinium. 

 (I'ttlega, dwarf Tagctc.<; and Giiwthcra. 



The more formal lieds in another jiart of the garden 

 were al-o <|uite striking; one in particular, whicli was 

 made up of a ground work of ril)bon and Antlicriciim, 

 a ])order of j/ink geraniums witli leaves variegated with 

 brownish red, green, and yellow, and "dot"" plants of 

 standard .ibutilon six feet high, interspersed with bush 

 specimens of Fuchsia two and one half feet high. 



Another striking bed w-as composed of a ground work 

 of pink geraniums, a border of sweet alyssum, with "dot"' 

 l)]ants of geranium four feet high, and lietween, fuchsias 

 two and one half feet high. 



X * :|: 



The next excm-sion, using Cambridge as a ba.se, was 

 to the gardens of Larlhani Ilall, the estate of M. Sydney 

 Morris, situated near Norwich in Norfolk. 



"Shortly after leaving Cambridge en route to Norwich. 

 the l'>n Country is encountered. This is a tract of land, 

 supposed to be a silted up bay of the sea, of over 500.000 

 acres, which was formerly a marsh. It has now been 

 drained and is used for agricultural purjioses, producing 

 fine crops of wheat and potatoes, and supporting much 

 live stock. The various efforts to reclaim this area would 

 make a romantic story for they were started by the 



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