" LILAC-TIDE." 45 



a succession of tents of scarlet and green. I tried 

 this method of training Scarlet Runners on a 

 smaller scale last year. The effect was excellent. 

 Then, too, close along the grass on either side I 

 am planting a broad belt of Violets, so that this 

 new walk will one day be the sweetest part of the 

 garden. Lastly, to give colour to the end of the 

 walk, where it is bounded by the hedge of the 

 croft, I am sowing the large Everlasting Pea, and 

 the strongest growing Nasturtium, that they may 

 climb and trail among the Hawthorn and the 

 clipped Beech. 



The outside borders and the lawn clumps are 

 beautiful with flowering shrubs. No season is 

 like " Lilac-tide," as it has been quaintly called, 

 in this respect. Besides the Lilac itself, there are 

 the long plumes of the white Broom, the brilliant 

 scarlet of the hybrid Rhododendrons, the delicious 

 blossoms, both pink and yellow, of the Azaleas, 

 the golden showers' of the Laburnum, and others 

 too numerous to mention. A Judas-tree at an angle 

 of the house is in bud. The General Jacqueminot 

 between the vineries has given us a Rose already. 



The cuckoo has been calling for days past among 

 the trees beyond the orchard, and the song birds 

 seem to be awake half through the night. 



