VILLA GARDENS WEST OF FUNCHAL 33 



unlucky enough to be out of reach of the hose, 

 or else he drowns it with too much water, until 

 the ground surrounding it becomes a swamp : for 

 the conditions suitable to a rock-plant would be as 

 unknown to him as the conditions required by a 

 bog-plant. 



Some tree-ferns in a sheltered corner make a 

 very good effect, and seem likely, from the strong 

 growth they have made in a few years, to become 

 very fine specimens. 



On the terrace near the house are beds of 

 begonias, roses, geraniums, heliotropes, sweet olives, 

 and the garden flowers common to most Madeira 

 gardens, while the walls are clad with a succession 

 of creepers ; so all through the winter months the 

 garden remains a feast of colour. 



Eighteen years ago the ground which is now the 

 beautiful garden of the Palace Hotel was nothing 

 but rocky, waste ground, bare of vegetation, except 

 for the clumps of prickly-pear, agaves, and cacti 

 which take possession of all the rocky ground along 

 the shore. For situation the garden is unrivalled, 

 and though the garden lacks the care and attention 

 which naturally are bestowed on a private garden, 

 the luxuriant growth, especially of the creepers, 

 has converted the formerly waste ground into a 



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