52 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



and never can be the artistic way on all sides of a house, and the 

 common French way of a waste of gravel all round a house is still 

 worse. The gray of the Carnation is welcome in winter seen from the 

 windows, and there are many evergreen rock plants that take their 

 deepest hues of green in winter, and they are a long way better, even 

 for their green, than the winter-worn turf It is often well, too, to see 

 a glimpse from the windows of the way the Crocus opens its heart to 

 the sun — brilliant forerunner of crowds of fair blossoms. 



COMPTON WiNYATES. — Compton Winyates is one of the dearest 

 of the old houses jewelled over the land of England, the most 

 charming of countries for its houses. There are graceful old climbers 

 and trees near, but not much showy gardening — almost none. There 

 is also very little of what is called pleasure ground in the ordinary 

 sense ; but that is too stereotyped a thing to make one regret it in the 

 presence of such a beautiful home. None the less is it pleasant to 

 wander over the high fields near and along the deep slopes of the 

 coombe, especially in the autumn time with the tree leaves rich in 

 colour, and the Barberry laden with a thousand coral boughs. Compton 

 Winyates is one of the old houses not surrounded by terraces, but 

 sits quietly on the turf, and tells us, as other of our finest old houses 

 do, that each situation demands its own treatment as regards the 

 surroundings of the house. 



Ketton Cottage. — This is one of the Elizabethan farmhouses 

 common in the villages round Stamford, with some recent additions. 

 It stands in the village, a short distance from the beautiful church of 

 St. Mary, a few yards from the little river Chater, which, coming down 

 from Leicestershire, falls into the Welland a mile or two below Ketton 

 and as far above Stamford. As the position is sheltered from rough 

 winds, the small space of ground between the road and the river has 

 proved a home for such of the hardy shrubs and flowers planted in it 

 during the last thirty years as find the lime in both soil and water 

 congenial to them. 



The banks of the stream are in places fringed with Royal 

 Fern and the large American Ferns, all of which bear patiently 

 the floods which sometimes in summer and often in winter pass 

 over their heads, lasting now and then for several weeks. All these 

 Ferns thrive in a bed of rough leaf-mould, 6 inches or 8 inches 

 above and below the usual water level, partly coated in the course 

 of years with earth from the floods, and partly denuded by the 

 action of the water, which is prevented in the exposed portions 

 from washing away the roots by a covering of heavy stones, between 

 which there is just room for the crowns to appear. These conditions 

 prevent the growth of seedling Royal Ferns, but the old plants 

 are, after more than twenty years, as vigorous as their kindred in 



