ASPECT FOR FLOWERS. 15 



The south is not so proper for flowers, as a glar- 

 ing sun withers the tender flowers ; but the north 

 must be carefully avoided, and shut out by a laurel 

 hedge, a wall, or any rural fence garnished with 

 hardy creepers, or monthly roses, which make a 

 gay and agreeable defence. Monthly roses are in- 

 valuable as auxiliaries of all kinds. They will 

 grow in any soil, and bloom through the winter 

 months, always give a delicate fragrance, and 

 smiling even in the snow. Monthly roses will 

 ever be the florist's delight : they are the hardiest, 

 most delicate-looking, and greenest-leaved of gar- 

 den productions ; they give no trouble, and speedi- 

 ly form a beautiful screen against any offensive ob- 

 ject. No flower-garden should exist without abun- 

 dance of monthly roses. 



It has often been a disputed point whether flow- 

 er-gardens should be intersected with gravel walks 

 or with grass plots. This must be left entirely to 

 the taste and means of the party forming a garden. 

 Lawn is as wet and melancholy in the winter 

 months, as it is beautiful and desirable in summer ; 

 and it requires great care and attention in mowing 

 and rolling, and trimming around the border. Gravel 

 walks have this advantage : the first trouble is the 

 last. They will only require an old woman's or a 

 child's assistance in keeping them free from weeds ; 

 and a lady has not the same fears of taking cold, 

 or getting wet in her feet, during the rains of au- 

 tumn and spring. 



Many females are unequal to the fatigue of bend- 

 ing down to flowers, and particularly object to the 

 stooping posture. In this case, ingenuity alone is 

 required to raise the flowers to a convenient height ; 

 and, by so doing, to increase the beauty and pic- 



