662 



THE NATURE BOOK 



when Snowdrops and Crocuses, Aconite 

 and Lenten Rose, make fairy carpets of 

 blossom in sheltered nooks, and the 

 Winter Sweet and Jasmine, Daphne and 

 Witch Hazel, strike a note of refreshing 

 colour among shrubs for the most part 

 bare of leaf and blossom — even then there 

 is beauty and to spare in the wild garden. 



their leaves, the branchlets give their 

 blossom, and the ground marshals in ever- 

 increasing array its pageant of gaudy 

 bloom. Daffodils and Bluebells. SquiUs 

 and Windflowers. Violets and Primroses, 

 join the swelling throng. 



In summer time the glades are aglow 

 with Roses — Dog Roses, Japanese Roses, 



COLONY OF FOXGLOVES IN THE GARDEN, FORD ABBEY. 



Fhotograph by F. Mason Cood, Wiuchjuld. 



CHARD, SOMERSET. 



As " winter dies at the soft sweet breath 

 of spring," the woodland trees, grim in 

 their stately sohtude, lose their individu- 

 ality, merge their austerity in perfect 

 association with the garden growing up 

 around them. The bursting buds show 

 green against the brown, so tempering 

 the aspect of the giant boughs that soon 

 their frown becomes a smile. And, 

 answering to the silent call, the hard 

 ground softens, the dank earth dries, the 

 shrubs take on their tenderest tones, and 

 the flowers of spring break quickly into 

 blossom. Then — as gradually a verdant 

 canopy and deepening shade envelop wood 

 and garden — below, the twigs yield up 



Musk Rose, and Sweetbriar ; the air is 

 redolent with the fragrant breath of 

 Honeysuckle, of Lilac, and ablaze with 

 the bloom of Azalea and Rhododendron. 



Where the shade 

 the grotmd with 

 green, while here 

 in white and rosy 

 blue, and sometimes a 

 white Woodruff, throw 

 on the leafy screen. 

 \Mien 



is dense. Ferns co\-er 

 a canopy of fairest 

 and there Foxgloves 

 piu'ple, Bellflowers in 

 lowly carpet of 

 welcome colour 



"There's a tinge of grey in the land of bloom, 

 And the song of the birds is hushed," 



the wild garden has still an exquisite 



