164 THE NEW COTTAGE 



windows, were reserved for sweet-smelling flowers 

 alone, so that the scent of wallflowers, stocks and 

 nicotiana should be wafted to the cottage day and 

 night. Each of these, when decorated by a central 

 feature, such as a bold pottery jar standing upon 

 a pedestal, would recall perhaps a Benozzo Gozzoli 

 Italian scene, where blue-robed saints busy them- 

 selves in planting thyme or sweet-scented verbena 

 in ornamental vases and suspend wreaths of roses 

 on them. 



The position that the climbing honeysuckles 

 were to occupy had to be chosen, for they were 

 to form arched vistas through which the cottage 

 could be seen from the road and two were to 

 join together high up over the swing gate so as to 

 make a frame for the white porch with its grey- 

 tiled roof to which the Madonna lilies lead. 



Years of hurried and superficial spade-work 

 could be traced in the slope of the ground of these 

 cottage gardens, for in no direction did the lie 

 of the land coincide with the horizontal beams 

 of the walls of the houses. The labourer had not 

 considered appearances, but had merely wished 

 to dig the land quickly, so that his crops would 

 benefit by any extra slope towards the south 

 that could be obtained. The property was not 

 his and therefore the main consideration was 

 speed and successful cultivation, so that, should 

 he have the misfortune to offend his master, he 

 might stand a chance of securing his own potatoes, 

 or parsnips, before moving on to other employ- 

 ment and a new home. But this hurried tilling 

 of the soil gives often an insecure and tottering 



