^ Introduction ^ 



hued undergrowth of daisies, lady's bedstraw and trefoil 

 and tufted vetch in the depths of the sea of grass. 

 Sweetest of all is meadow hay. The scent of a newly-made 

 stack is fresh, but the scent of an old stack has perhaps the 

 finer aroma. 



Certain flower scents appeal to some people but not to 

 others. To some folk the scents of marigold and phloxes 

 are disagreeable, but to those of us who like these ' cottage 

 smelling ' flowers they are delightful. There is no trace of 

 sweetness but these vigorous w r holesome scents have a 

 charm of their own. There are people who actually de- 

 scribe privet flowers as ' honey-scented,' but to most of us 

 these near relations of the ' lilac ' family have a singularly 

 unpleasant smell. (L. Quihoui is the exception, for this 

 privet has sweetly-scented flowers.) Again, there are 

 certain scents which are apparent to some people but not 

 to others. Snapdragons, for instance, are not usually 

 regarded as ' scented ' flowers, yet to many they have a 

 particularly delightful, though only faint, scent. Some 

 scents are perceptible only at a little distance. For 

 instance, the bracts of Davidia involucruta are not scented, 

 but often at a distance of about 10 feet from the tree 

 there is a decided although fugitive fragrance. The 

 flowers of Rhododendron Royhi are scentless, but a few feet 

 away there is an aroma (only an occasional whiff) which is 

 very like that of Russian leather. Scents vary also accord- 

 ing to locality. Moss roses grown in the plains of India 

 quickly lose their mossiness, and with it the peculiarly 

 exquisite scent of the mossy calyces ; but transferred to 

 the hills, the same plants regain their moss and with it the 

 scent. Forget-me-nots in the British Isles are not scented, 

 but only this morning I had a letter from a friend who 



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