THE GARDEN ORCHARD 323 



on some one side, or perhaps more, a shady Nut 

 alley. There is no need to be always moving the 

 garden orchard. One wide, easy, grassy way might 

 well be kept closely shorn, but much of the middle 

 and side spaces had better not be cut until hay-time, 

 for many would be the bulbs planted under the turf, 

 great drifts of Daffodils and Spanish Scillas, and 

 Fritillaries for the larger effects, and Colchicums 

 and Saffron Crocus for the later months. If the 

 grass were mown again in September, just before 

 the Colchicums appear, it would allow of easy access 

 to the fruit trees in the time of their harvest, and 

 in those interesting weeks immediately before the 

 Apples ripen. 



It must not be forgotten that the best use of many 

 fruit-bearing trees is not restricted to the kitchen 

 garden only, for many of them are beautiful things 

 in the most dressed ground. Few small trees are 

 more graceful in habit than the old English Quince 

 that bears the smooth, roundish fruits. It is not 

 only a pleasant object in leaf and flower in early 

 summer, and in autumn glory of golden fruit, but 

 even when bare of leaves in winter a fully matured 

 tree is strikingly beautiful, and in boggy ground 

 where no other tree would thrive it is just at its 

 happiest and is most fruitful. Then many Apples 

 are extremely ornamental, and there is a whole range 

 of Crabs ; Siberian, Chinese, and home-raised hybrids 

 that are delightful things both in flower and in fruit. 

 Pyrus Mauleiy vieing in beauty of bloom with its near 

 neighbours, the Japanese Quinces, quite outdoes them 



