i6o THE ROSE BOOK 



or some bold hardy flower there, and the thing is done. 

 But with a garden on the flat one needs to go more 

 laboriously to work. The garden must be hedged round 

 with Yew or Holly, if time (when one is young) or money 

 (when one's ship has come home) is of no account, for 

 little Yews and Hollies grow slowly and take years to 

 fulfil their purpose ; while bigger ones cost — oh ! so much 

 more than they seem worth ! One may take comfort 

 in the fact that the enclosed hedge fulfils a twofold 

 purpose : it hides the garden from the general view and 

 shelters the roses from the wind, and, as cleanliness 

 comes next in virtue to godliness, so in rose morals 

 sunshine alone takes precedence of shelter. 



The garden of roses should not stand out like a square 

 on a draught-board, which it might easily do. Imagine 

 it to be beyond the lawn that comes close to the house. 

 It were easy to restrain the walk, that seems eager to 

 unveil the roses' charm, by throwing up a mound and 

 crowning this with flowering shrubs, with quick-growing 

 Spiraea or Mock Orange, or with statelier evergreen 

 Rhododendron. And when the wayfarer, following the 

 winding walk, has passed the flowery mound, why should 

 he not find a winding pergola, close-twined from top to 

 base with fragrant flower and lusty foliage ? Then, lost 

 in wonder at the delights on either hand, and entirely 

 unsuspicious of its real object, he would find, on emerging 

 from the covered way, the garden of roses spread before 

 him in full and exquisite beauty. In some such way, by 

 the subtle use of flowers that enchant the visitor as he 

 passes on, would I lead him, already charmed with what 



