192 THE NEW GARDENING 



with creaks, groans and cries of pain. Free and un- 

 fettered in the garden, it steals over the dial in silence, 

 a slow-moving bar that clings affectionately to each 

 figure on the metal plate, and when the dark days 

 of autumn come fades gently, almost imperceptibly, 

 into the gloom that encompasses the sleep of the 

 flowers. 



The sun-dial is the true time-giver of the garden. It 

 breathes the spirit of peace. It is never in a hurry. It 

 is content to be entirely inactive for long spells of delicious 

 perfumed repose, when the sun has sunk below the 

 horizon and the night-blooming plants awake. Amongst 

 our flowers we want no other monitor than that which 

 always works silently, and often rests. It gives us the 

 cue for our mental attitude. It turns the key for a fresh 

 outlook on life. To be the most truly beneficial to us 

 the garden hours must be of a different quality from 

 those of the street and market-place. They must pass 

 more silently, more slowly. They must be serene, re- 

 flective and composed. It is because the sun-dial records 

 too little rather than too much of the passing of the 

 hours that it is in its appropriate place among the 

 flowers. 



We must find a place for the sun-dial where it can be 

 surrounded by plants. The flowers serve time, not time 

 the flowers. Perhaps we have a Rose garden whose beds 

 encircle a central area of turf or gravel. In the middle 

 of this space we will set the plinth. Or, in a smaller 

 garden, there may be an enclosure placed as remote as 

 possible from the street and even the dwelling, in order 

 to form a reading nook or intimate domestic circle ; here 

 the sun-dial will form a suitable centre-piece, where 

 children's hands may play with the slow shadow and 

 baby voices call on it to move faster. 



