§| The Scented Qarden (%2> 



Who can picture an English lane at this time of year 

 without the beauty of honeysuckle flowers and their 

 exquisite scent ? Who can dissociate either from the 

 scent of fields of red clover and the golden splendour of 

 harvest ? Like apple blossom, the scent of honeysuckle 

 is at its sweetest in the early morning. Best of all 

 for the garden are the early and late Dutch varieties 

 — Lonicera belgica and L. serotina. The showiest of 

 the hardy honeysuckles, L. tragophylla (Chinese Wood- 

 bine), is scentless. L. capri folium, so called because goats 

 are fond of eating its leaves, is exceedingly sweet of smell. 

 It is a very strong grower, often reaching 20 feet ; it 

 loves a chalky soil, and is a honeysuckle one frequently 

 sees growing rampantly over porches and arbours in 

 cottage gardens near the sea. We love the scent and 

 beauty of honeysuckle in the late summer, but I think 

 we love it just as much in winter, for honeysuckle is one 

 of our earliest plants in leaf. By the end of February 

 its red-green leaves are tiny inch-long heralds of spring, 

 long before any other leaves, save the pale green shoots 

 of the elder, show more than a faint sign. Honeysuckle, 

 or woodbine, has always been the symbol of faithful love. 

 Chaucer tells us that those that 



' Wore chapelets on hir hede 

 Of fresh wodebind, be such as never were 

 To love untrue, in word ne thought, ne dede, 

 But ay steadfast : ne for pleasance, ne fere 

 Tho' that they shoulde hir hertes all to tere, 

 Would never flit, but ever were stedfast 

 Till that hir lives theie asunder crust.' 



The scent of Jasmine has the richness of flowers such as 

 hyacinths, the sweetness of the lily of the valley, and, 



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