THE AUTUMN GARDEN 225 



round the windows of the long, low breakfast- 

 room, as though they would set a rare frame 

 for Sir Joshua Reynolds' yet rarer portraits 

 within, and do honour to the brilliant talk 

 that went on round the breakfast-table. 



I often wonder why certain of our fruit trees 

 are not more generally used in so-called orna- 

 mental planting, instead of being sternly rele- 

 gated to the kitchen garden or the orchard. 

 They would fulfil the purpose of their being 

 every whit as well, while giving delight to the 

 eye in Spring and Autumn. Some of the Pears 

 not all take on gorgeous colouring in the 

 fall of the year, as a journey through the fair 

 Vale of Evesham demonstrates ; their long 

 upright shoots rising like glowing torches of 

 deep crimson, copper, and orange-pink among 

 the more sober greens of the orchards with 

 almost startling effect. A Eeurre d* Amanlis and 

 Pitmaston Duchesse d* Angouleme have given me 

 weeks of as great pleasure lately, as did the all 

 too short days of delight in their snowy Spring 

 blossoms. And over a young tree of Worcester 

 Pearmain, set thick with scarlet apples at the end 



