ASPECT FOR FLOWERS. 15 



The south is not so proper for flowers, as a glar 

 ing sun withers the tender flowers ; but the north 

 must be carefully avoided, and shut out by a laurel 

 hedge, a wall, or any rural fence garnished with 

 hardy creepers, or monthly roses, which make a 

 gay and agreeable defence. Monthly roses are in 

 valuable as auxiliaries of all kinds. They will 

 grow in any soil, and bloom through the winter 

 months, always give a delicate fragrance, and 

 smiling even in the snow. Monthly roses will 

 ever be the florist s delight : they are the hardiest, 

 most delicate-looking, and greenest-leaved of gar 

 den productions ; they give no trouble, and speedi 

 ly form a beautiful screen against any offensive ob 

 ject. No flower-garden should exist without abun 

 dance of monthly roses. 



It has often been a disputed point whether flow 

 er-gardens should be intersected with gravel walks 

 or with grass plots. This must be left entirely to 

 the taste and means of the party forming a garden. 

 Lawn is as wet and melancholy in the winter 

 months, as it is beautiful and desirable in summer ; 

 and it requires great care and attention in mowing 

 and rolling, and trimming around the border. Gravel 

 walks have this advantage : the first trouble is the 

 last. They will only require an old woman s or a 

 child s assistance in keeping them free from weeds ; 

 and a lady has not the same fears of taking cold, 

 or getting wet in her feet, during the rains of au 

 tumn and spring. 



Many females are unequal to the fatigue of bend 

 ing down to flowers, and particularly object to the 

 stooping posture. In this case, ingenuity alone is 

 required to raise the flowers to a convenient height ; 

 and, by so doing, to increase the beauty and pic- 



