THE GARDEN-ROOM 43 



beyond one's dreams ; there is no such collection of 

 citrons in Europe from citrus Aurantium Bergamia, 

 the bergamot orange, to the wonderful 'Buddha's 

 fingers,' they range, through every variety of shad- 

 dock, lemon, lime, kumquat, and mandarin. In one 

 spot there shall be seen half an acre of anemones 

 the most beautiful sheet of pure colour that I have 

 ever beheld. Rare trees rise before you at every 

 turn. Blossoms fall in scented showers upon the 

 wanderer ; water tinkles from dim green nests of 

 exotic ferns ; the fragrance and the loveliness of in- 

 numerable roses haunt each glade ; in the wild por- 

 tions of the estate, Nature has her free way, and 

 indigenous oleanders blossom by a mountain stream. 

 The blue sea hems in all. Upon my first visit I was 

 so much moved that I made an epigram about this 

 garden. The effort, however, created no special 

 attention ; but it shall not perish unrecorded. 



" To gild refined gold and paint the lily 

 Are feats that most of us consider silly ; 

 But you, who laid this jewel by the sea, 

 Have added loveliness to Italy." 



Of course twenty such books as mine would not 

 serve to tell of one-half the wonders at La Mortala. 

 I am merely concerned with a single magic gourd 

 grown there and brought home by me to this country. 

 To the eye it lacked any particular significance, being 

 merely a little golden fruit, rather flat in shape, and 

 about the size of a large orange. In the spring I 

 opened it, took six seeds from five hundred, and 

 planted them. They came up at once, and were 



