10 FLOWERS AND GARDENS OF MADEIRA 



of a pleasing brownish colour, have become over- 

 grown and a prey to the worst pest in Madeira 

 gardens, the coco grass, which is enough to break 

 the heart of any gardener once it is allowed to get 

 possession ; its little green shoots seem to spring 

 up in a single night, and the labour of yesterday 

 has to be again the work of to-day if the neat, trim 

 paths so necessary to any garden are to be kept free 

 from the invader. Or the box hedges, which were 

 formerly the pride of their owner, have lost their 

 trimness and regularity from the lack of the shears 

 at the necessary season, and the garden only sug- 

 gests departed glories. 



Luckily, a few of these gardens still remain in all 

 their beauty, and the pleasure their owners display 

 in showing them speaks for itself of their true love 

 of gardening. 



The plan of the garden is usually somewhat 

 formal in design, and as a rule centres in a fountain 

 or water-tank, which serves the double purpose of 

 being an ornament to the garden and of supplying 

 it with water. The entrance to the garden is 

 certain to be through a corridor, with either square 

 cement and plaster pillars, or merely stout wooden 

 posts, which carry the vine or creeper-clad trellis. 

 The beds are not each devoted to the cultivation 



