i 4 EVERSLEY GARDENS 



known as the Bosquet de Julie, breaks the 

 western slope, and now gives pleasant shade 

 to the southern end of the croquet ground. 

 Tall trees, Chestnuts, Norway and Scarlet 

 Maples, Ash, Laburnum, Acacia, and Sycamore, 

 with a grand Hornbeam from Elvetham Park, 

 were planted behind the Limes against the west 

 hedge. And a tall spire of Lombardy Poplar, 

 contrasting finely with its background of big 

 hollies in the north-west corner, proved so irre- 

 sistible to Puschkin and Gogol, the kittens, 

 that they scored its young bark to such an 

 extent as to make me fear for its life. Pusch- 

 kin, alas ! noble and loving cat, a furry monster 

 I brought over five miles, yelling and scratching 

 in a fish bag when a mere ball of long hair, 

 went the way of all best cats, by the wicked- 

 ness of keepers. But his smug and wary sister, 

 Gogol, though she tempts her innumerable 

 kittens across the road, and into the danger zone 

 towards Eversley Wood, has so far managed to 

 save her skin, and her surviving descendants 

 have peopled the homes of friends far and near. 

 For rapid effect nothing can beat the Poplar ; 



