32 HOW THE GARDEN WAS MADE 



of town-dwellers. The room now is called the 

 " Students' Office," and in it many conferences are 

 held for the discussion of the best methods of work. 



The position for my house was soon chosen, and 

 students did a considerable portion of the excava- 

 tion that was necessary for the foundation, thus 

 gaining knowledge of the very commencement of 

 things in building up a place. In so doing, a 

 glaring, white chalk bank became a very striking 

 and objectionable feature below the house and 

 was long a matter of despairing consideration, for 

 we wondered what could ever flourish sufficiently 

 upon it to conceal the rock-like substance. When 

 the workmen had completed the building and their 

 debris was cleared away, small pocket-like cups 

 were made in the chalk stones that formed the 

 bank and turf sods were fixed in them, turned 

 grass side downwards. A little soft mould was 

 added, and thus happy homes were given to ara- 

 bis, wallflowers, red valerian, helianthemums, and 

 Wichuriana roses, which form the happy succession 

 of plants that now completely clothe what goes by 

 the name of the House Terrace Bank. 



The house itself, a great deal smaller than it is 

 now — for it has had two separate additions — was 

 finished in the summer of 1906. By that time the 

 rough outline of one or two of the main features of 

 the garden, such as the wide grass walk and the 

 borders upon each side, had been pegged out, but 

 terraces, steps, and pergolas came much later. It 

 was indeed a rough, bleak spot for the first few 

 years, without trees or hedges to break the wind, 

 and I think what I minded most were the dreary, 



