AUGUST 175 



it is not sure to be in many places. A ragged 

 hedge of box is a sorry affair, for which it 

 is much better to substitute English ivy, 

 pegged down and confined within fixed limits. 

 It makes a lovely border for walks, and for 

 large beds, as does also the periwinkle or 

 vinca or myrtle. Covered with its angled 

 blue stars in April, the myrtle is charming, 

 while its deep green glossy sprays are invalu- 

 able during the cold days of winter. Here, 

 too, the cost is practically nothing, since every- 

 body who has a rod of earth to cultivate knows 

 of some abandoned farmhouse around whose 

 deserted doorstone the myrtle has crept and 

 matted in thick tangles which are at any- 

 body's disposal, and which will take hold of 

 any new soil to which they may be trans- 

 planted with all the good will in the world. 

 For a ground cover under trees anywhere, 

 this good, old, tested green is unsurpass- 

 able. 



In my garden plot, rhododendrons shall be 

 banked against some stone steps which shall 

 lead down from the terrace above. In August 

 the not-too-beautiful offerings of their far-too- 

 often purplish blossoms are past, the plants 



