94 A GARDEN DIARY 



FEBRUARY 7, 1900 



" AT the very top of its strength ! " Cold as it 

 -** has been of late, I hardly expected to find 

 no garden left when I got up to-day ! So it is 

 however. Late last night everything seemed 

 normal. This morning our little Dutch garden 

 has vanished utterly ; swept out of existence as 

 though it had never existed. From centre 

 to margin beds, borders, walks, red walls, 

 everything the entire little depression has been 

 covered with a uniform white blanket, effacing it 

 completely, and restoring the landscape to what 

 it was before man, woman, or measuring tapes 

 arrived to trouble it. For the plants this new 

 state of things is an improvement, but how 

 about our work ? Behold us suddenly reduced 

 to a state of deadlock ; all our various little 

 activities brought to an absolute standstill. The 

 paths that were being cut through the copse ; 

 the ground that was being got ready for grass- 

 sowing ; the flower-beds that had to be clipped 

 into the right shape ; the heather that was being 



