Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



possession of many wives brings to a Kaffir 

 chief), and your garden boy feels that he is 

 doing honour to himself in serving a " patron " 

 who can afford to let him stand and pour forth 

 the precious liquid from a hose, especially 

 where it isn't wanted. It is almost as good 

 fun as letting off fireworks, and, besides, it is 

 easier work than digging or weeding or sweep- 

 ing. And so we find that those portions 

 of the garden where the water-tap is handy 

 and the hose can be easily adjusted are con- 

 tinually in a swampy condition, and if the 

 roses are mildewed and other things "damp 

 off" it is not surprising. We are waging 

 war this year against this continual inunda- 

 tion, but it is hard to fight with prejudiced 

 ignorance. 



The absence of any garden knowledge among 

 the working people here is indeed a great trial, 

 especially when one is only present one's self 

 for a third of the year, and the most important 

 operations, the pruning of roses and so on, 

 have to be conducted in our absence. It 

 is an immense tribute to the vitality of the 

 vegetation that our gardens do as well as they 

 do. It would of course be easy to bring over 



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