62 EVERSLEY GARDENS 



when nearly in bloom, with flowering Cherries 

 and Apples. 



Then come the Apples and Crabs. What 

 is more lovely on this dear earth of ours 

 than an Apple orchard in full bloom ? A 

 railway journey through the Vale of Evesham, 

 or among the orchards of Somerset and Devon, 

 is one long enchantment in this wondrous 

 season. In our old Warwickshire garden, May 

 brought us yearly a marvellous Apple-blossom 

 show. Two ancient espaliers of Reineite de 

 Canada, known to be some two hundred years 

 old, grew on either side of a narrow path in 

 the kitchen garden. The short trunks were 

 as thick as a man's body. The horizontal 

 stems were as large as trees, respectively 

 70 feet and 64 feet long, and turned round 

 the corners of a cross walk. The upright 

 branches had grown into an arcade 15 feet 

 high, meeting overhead, and when the flowers 

 were out formed an exquisite tunnel of pink 

 and white and tender green, almost shutting 

 out the blue sky above. I was once im- 

 prudent enough to write a short description 



