Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



home. The generally picturesque nature of 

 the ground, the presence of graceful fruit and 

 other trees, and the absence of any pretentious 

 attempt to conform the whole to a set idea, 

 lead to the simple and picturesque garden." 



When every allowance is made for his well- 

 known preferences, Mr. W. Robinson seems to 

 strike the right note. Of the best and most 

 characteristic Madeira gardens it may be said that 

 they have grown rather than been made. Those 

 v/hich have been consciously created are perhaps 

 the least successful. The villas which surround 

 the town, and in many cases have now been 

 swallowed up by it — Quintas is their local 

 name — were originally country houses sur- 

 rounded rather by small farms than gardens. 

 A square plot in front of the house, with a 

 level surface secured by retaining walls, often 

 on the hillsides of considerable height, and cut 

 up into beds of rather fantastic shape — such is 

 the beginning from which most of the existing 

 gardens have been gradually evolved. The 

 main condition governing this evolution is that 

 level, or even undulating, ground is rare, and 

 that the hillsides surrounding the town are, 

 wherever possible, terraced. These terraces, 



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