156 A GARDEN DIARY 



as we have of late been afflicted with, is a boon 

 that can hardly be overrated. As a mere 

 matter of appearance, the red - brick garden 

 seems to be at least as " natural " an appanage 

 of the red -brick house as the little grey -stone 

 garden of the grey - stone one. Both require 

 a certain amount of thought and contrivance, 

 especially as regards proportion, but once this 

 is attained, they soon learn to wear that inevit- 

 able aspect, which in garden making, as in all 

 the other arts, great and small, is the first, 

 and surely the least dispensable of all require- 

 ments ? 



That the grey-stone garden is on the whole 

 the higher species of the two I admit. At the 

 same time the red - brick one has this great 

 advantage over its stony brother that it is 

 essentially a winter's day garden, whereas the 

 stone one may, and in bad weather does, look 

 grim, to the point of being almost forbidding. 

 In both gardens some amount of hindrance is apt 

 to arise with regard to the laying down of the 

 walks. Flagging is a costly process, and where 

 the walks are very narrow, the laying down 

 of stone flags must be a matter of some 

 difficulty. The same applies, though not quite 

 to the same extent, to the red -brick garden. 

 That it ought to be tiled, just as the other 

 ought to be flagged, I feel sure. At the same 

 time good, red gravel, or even bricks, broken 



