62 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



March, 191 3 



A Glimpte of Mr. Child's Garden, Showing a Corner of the Lawn (No. 4) 



bloom of many sweet old-fashioned an- 

 nuals, as well as salvias, cannas, dah- 

 lias and others. This, Mrs. Child ex- 

 plained, was her own particular delight, 

 and very attractive it was, and she is 

 planning to add to it more perennials, 

 especially peonies. 



THE LAWN AND FERN GARDEN 



A terrace separates the garden from a 

 fine smooth bowling green ; this again 

 is separated from the lawn by an ever- 

 green hedge, one or two formal steps 

 leading down to it. On the lawn were 

 groups of the most beautiful trees, 

 amongst them a glorious old sumach, 

 giving quite a tropical air, and under 

 which the family generally had their cup 

 of afternoon tea during the warm weath- 

 er. A little farther on, under the shade 

 of the trees, Mr. Child pointed with 

 pardonable pride, to the joy of his heart, 

 the fern garden. He aims to grow here 

 all the ferns indigenous to Hamilton and 



the vicinity, and judging by the immense 

 number already in his possession it seems 

 as if the task he has set himself is near- 

 ing completion. Here one saw ferns that 

 one had searched for in vain for many a 

 year, or perhaps only found in Ni- 

 agara Glen, where one is not allowed (I 

 am thankful to say) to annex any of 

 them. There were beautiful specimens 

 of Goldie's Shield Fern (Aspidium Gold- 

 ianum) and also of Aspidium Felix-mas. 

 The narrow-leaved spleenwort (Asplen- 

 ium Augustifolium), the Hart's Tongue 

 (Scolopendrium vulgare). The Christmas 

 fern in a ruffled variety, known as As- 

 pidium Acrostichoides, variety crispum, 

 and others that have escaped one's mem- 

 ory. Less rare, but none the less beau- 

 tiful on that account, were clumps of 

 filmy Maiden Hair and of the stately os- 

 trich fern, and of its plainer sister, the 

 sensitive fern. Farther on were some 

 handsome specimens of the Royal fern, 



which always makes one think of a brob- 

 dingangian maiden hair, and its less 

 aristocratic but equally beautiful sisters, 

 the Cinnamon fern and the Interrupted 

 fern, with the paler green of the New 

 York fern to bear them company. (Illus- 

 tration No. 5.) The Beech ferns also were 

 in evidence, all three of them, their long 

 stems giving the suggestion, as one writ- 

 er has quaintly put it, "of holding their 

 skirts out of the water." The graceful 

 Dicksonia, and the lovely Spinulose wood 

 ferns, — whose fronds often survive our 

 winter snows, still keeping their perfect 

 symmetry intact, — were hobnobbing with 

 Bladder ferns, and the Evergreen wood 

 fern, and others too numerous to men- 

 tion. Many other lovely woodsy things 



A Section of the Fern Garden— Ostrich Fern in Foreground (No. 5) 



Arbor Covered With Grape Vine* (No. 6) 



grew here, in fact the fern garden grad- 

 ually broadened into a wild garden, 

 where many very interesting specimens 

 were to be found. 



From the wild garden we emerged 

 upon a high tennis lawn, and wandering 

 on we came to one of the grape ar- 

 bors, from the rafters of which magnifi- 

 cent clusters of grapes hung in great 

 profusion. (Illustration No. 6.) 



Our explorations next took us to the 

 grounds on the other side of the house, 

 from which the ground slopes away, 

 gradually at first, then abruptly. Between 

 two steep banks a beautiful little streani 

 meandered along, quietly, because the 

 dry summer had curbed its babbling pro- 

 pensities, but in the spring of the year 

 the water rushes over the little dam right 

 merrilv, my host told me. 



The banks of this stream are planted 

 with many water loving things, such as 

 the wild iris, the marsh marigold and 

 violets, and Mr. Child is planning to 



