300 Old Time Gardens 



of the flower of the vine, " a scent so delicate that 

 it requires a sigh to inhale it." 



The faintest flower scents are the best. You 

 find yourself longing for just a little more, and 

 you bury your face in the flowers and try to draw 

 out a stronger breath of balm. Apple blossoms, 

 certain Violets, and Pansies have this pale perfume. 



In the front yard of my childhood's home grew 

 a Larch, an exquisitely graceful tree, one now little 

 planted in Northern climates. I recall with special 

 delight the faint fragrance of its early shoots. The 

 next tree was a splendid pink Hawthorn. What a 

 day of mourning it was when it had to be cut down, 

 for trees had been planted so closely that many 

 must be sacrificed as years went on and all grew in 

 stature. 



There are some smells that are strangely pleasing 

 to the country lover which are neither from fragrant 

 flower nor leaf; one is the scent of the upturned 

 earth, most heartily appreciated in early spring. The 

 smell of a ploughed field is perhaps the best of all 

 earthy scents, though what Bliss Carman calls " the 

 racy smell of the forest loam ' is always good. 

 Another is the burning of weeds of garden rakings, 



" The spicy smoke 

 Of withered weeds that burn where gardens be." 



A garden "weed-smother" always makes me 

 think of my home garden, and my father, who 

 used to stand by this burning weed-heap, raking in 

 the withered leaves. Many such scents are pleasing 

 chiefly through the power of association. 



