84 RIVERSIDE LETTERS XI 



place. So my garden gets a holiday in the 

 autumn as well as the boys. It looks a little 

 untidy, I admit, but it is a better thing for 

 the perennials to let them die and shed their 

 seed naturally, than to tidy them up, and 

 cut them down, in order to make room for 

 autumn flowers. I am no very great admirer 

 of the usual autumn flowers, such as zinnias, 

 dahlias, China asters, &c., they are very 

 bright and gay, it is true, but lack delicacy 

 of beauty. My untidy beds, however, are 

 not entirely devoid of bloom, as there are 

 plenty of Japanese anemones, tall phloxes, 

 asters, colchicums, &c., with monthly roses, 

 and sundry hardy things which keep on 

 blooming away until the frosts come. In 

 October and November I go all over my 

 borders, cutting down, dividing, altering, 

 &c. ; giving here and there a top dressing 

 of leaf-mould and manure. Bonfires at that 

 time of the year hardly ever go out, the 

 scent of which has ever been delightful 

 to me. 



