AUGUST 177 



stateliness, loving a partial shade, but caring 

 more for plenty of water to drink. 



I like grass paths, even in box-edged gardens. 

 The sharp contrasts between the greens of 

 hedges or the blossoms of plants, and the greys 

 and browns of gravels are not pleasant. To 

 be sure grass paths are damp after a rain, or a 

 heavy fall of dew, but shall not the overshoe 

 men have a chance to make an honest living, 

 and is life so short that we cannot spare a 

 moment in which to slip off and on the rubber 

 sandals by whose aid we may defy all weathers ? 

 Stone walks, laid in blocks of different colours, 

 are almost as bad as were the pavements in the 

 garden of Erasmus on which the taste of that 

 day painted representations of flowers ! Grass 

 paths sympathise with all kinds of garden 

 efforts, and are the complement of every flower. 

 They ask only for frequent clipping and rolling 

 to serve you better and better as age toughens 

 and strengthens the sward. 



By August the ferneries have lost the crisp 

 freshness of their prime, more's the pity, and 

 more's the pity, also, that certain wild things 

 the natural companions of the ferns, in the 

 glory of our deep, northern forests refuse to 



