78 PEAT GARDENS 



of lifting skirts or getting wet feet, for there are good dry paths 

 everywhere. 



Now let us make the circuit of this woodsy garden and enjoy 

 a hundred flowers we have never seen before. The soil itself is a 

 delight to walk upon, for it is a rich, spongy mass of reddish-brown 

 peat, soft and cushiony to the foot. There are thousands of acres 

 of such land in England made by the heather growth of untold 

 centuries. And such soil is usually springy. Sir Henry was not 

 content to leave this land all sopping and hummocky. The 

 springs now feed a number of dainty little brooks, with clear 

 water, pleasant gravelly bottoms, miniature water-falls, and even 

 a little lake that is large enough for a few water-lilies. The 

 sound of running water is charming in any garden, especially in 

 the stillness of early morning, but in a peat garden it is doubly 

 precious because it is a guarantee of health, as well as beauty. 



Of course, peat and water make ideal conditions for members 

 of the great heath family. Therefore, every one is tempted first 

 to plant big masses of rhododendron hybrids, because they are the 

 showiest and have the finest colours. Sir Henry Yorke has resisted 

 this temptation, because it would have made his garden conven- 

 tional. The hybrids he plants near his house because they are 

 obviously the works of man. But in this sylvan retreat he chose to 

 accentuate the native wildness. Therefore, he has planted the 

 wild rhododendrons and the members of the heath family which 

 do not suggest the garden. I mean such things as the flame azalea 

 of the Carolina mountains; Azalea Vaseyi, perhaps the purest pink 

 in the whole family; the mountain andromeda, marvellous for its 

 sprays of creamy buds in midwinter; the Leucothoe, unrivalled 

 for the arching grace of its branches laden with symmetrical rows 

 of polished leaves; galax, a ground cover of incomparable beauty 



