THE AMATEUR GARDEN 



ramage of January. Summer and winter alike, 

 the gravest items among them all, the conifers, 

 retain their values even in those New Orleans 

 gardens. When we remember that in New 

 England and on all its isotherm it is winter all 

 that half of the year when most of us are at 

 home, why should we not seek to realize this 

 snow-garden dream? Even a partial or faulty 

 achievement of it will surely look lovelier than 

 the naked house left out on its naked white 

 lawn like an unclaimed trunk on a way-station 

 platform. I would not, for anything, offend 

 the reader's dignity, but I must think that this 

 midwinter garden may be made at least as 

 much lovelier than no garden as Alice's Cheshire 

 cat was lovelier with or without its grin 

 than the grin without the cat. 



Shall we summarize? Our gist is this: that 

 those gardens of New Orleans are as they are, 

 not by mere advantage of climate but for 

 several other reasons. Their bounds of owner- 

 ship and privacy are enclosed in hedges, tight 

 or loose, or in vine-clad fences or walls. The 

 lawn is regarded as a ruling feature of the home's 



192 



