242 A WHITE-PAPER GARDEN 



solitary and reserved nature. Dr Holmes 

 chanted the praise of box, and next after this 

 cared for the little grape hyacinths or " blue 

 bottles " that lurk about in gardens made in 

 colonial days. A book might easily be written 

 about the flower-loves that have cheered men 

 devoted to letters, to music and to painting, 

 and almost without exception it would be found 

 that they centred about 



" the good old week-day blossoms 

 I used to see so long ago 

 With hearty sweetness in their bosoms 

 Ready and glad to bud and blow." 



By the time October is well on her way, the 

 most stupid person will have learned at least 

 one garden lesson, and that is that Nature 

 loves to plant in masses, and with an eye to 

 the effect of the flower upon the landscape. 



By landscape we may mean we always do 

 when we can the wide sweep of hills and 

 valleys, or rolling fields and orchards which 

 lose themselves in a far horizon, or we may 

 mean the sheltered spacelet which lies between 

 a tiny cottage and its neighbour. If Nature 

 has a spray of ladies' tresses she sets it where 

 its beauty is supreme at the edge of a ferny 



