THE ROSE GARDENS OF HERTFORDSHIRE. 49 



these the most striking are Ayrshire : Ruga, Splendens. 

 Boursault: Gracilis. Hybrid Musk : Garland. Bourbon: 

 Bouquet de Flore and Pierre de St Cyr. At one end of 

 the Rosetum is a raised temple or rustic arbour covered 

 with Sweet-scented Clematis (C. flammula), Virginian 

 Creeper (Ampelopsis hederacea), and honeysuckles. 

 From the foreground of this temple a splendid coup d'ceil of 

 the whole is obtained. The ascent is made by a short 

 flight of steps built in true rustic style. On either hand is 

 a row of Fuchsias, whose coral-like blossoms hang in 

 magnificent profusion, and are admirably relieved by 

 masses of the silver-edged Vinca trailing over the ground 

 beneath. These are again supported by rhododendrons, 

 which form a bank in the foreground. The enticing cool- 

 ness of this retreat proved too much t for our powers of 

 self-denial, and on entering we were not surprised to find 

 the inmost recesses filled with the perfumes which the 

 flowers exhaled. While meditating here we were led from 

 one class of plants to another, from the vegetable to the 

 animal kingdom, and as the various objects passed in rapid 

 succession before the mind, creation pointing to the 

 Creator, we silently wondered and adored. And what 

 a time for meditation ? The morning was delightful ; 

 calm, soft, and sunny, though a little hazy ; it was one 

 of those mornings in which one delights in Nature as a 

 companion. 



" On earth 'twas yet all calm around ; 

 A pulseless silence, dread profound," 



reigned everywhere. The brooks ran clear, the flowers 

 were fresh, the groves were silent, the feathered choristers 

 having at once put off their natural shyness and dropt 

 their song. 



But this is a digression ; our subject is flowers. One 

 thing struck us in reference thereto the nice adaptation 

 of the varieties of Roses for particular purposes. Every 

 plant seemed to have been rightly chosen. The kinds of 

 pendulous habit had been selected on tall stems, and thus 

 D 



