CHAPTER XV 

 Tulips 



BEFORE I can permit you to go through the archway and 

 down by the Tulip beds I want to air some of my views about 

 Tulips in general, so let us lean on the iron rail of the bridge 

 for a while. It is a very good resting-place in mid-May, 

 for just then it commands the two best views of Tulips in 

 the garden. To our left we can see the long line of choicer 

 sorts growing in a narrow bed under the fruit wall. We 

 look all down this long bed, in which several hundreds of 

 varieties are grown, and seen through the archway the mass 

 of colour is a fine sight on a sunny day. We try to group 

 them in their classes and then again by colours, so that 

 those nearest to us are all Darwins and pink or rose 

 coloured, next come purple and then crimson Darwins, 

 and following them, further away still, are Cottage Tulips, 

 and then the English to finish with. Turning our heads 

 to look straight along the course of the river, we see a 

 stretch of old Yew hedge on our immediate left running 

 parallel with the river bank and starting from the right- 

 hand side of the arch that leads to the kitchen garden and 

 the Tulip beds. The river takes a long curve here, and 

 about half-way along this bend the Yew hedge divides, 

 turning down at a right angle to the path and river, and 

 making room for a terraced garden before the correspond- 

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