GARDEN PATHS 



v 



gardening, pride and carefulness, and that now he had 

 shown them the way his men were so proud of their tool- 

 shed that they brought admiring friends to see it of a 

 Sunday afternoon. Then I knew if there was money 

 to be made growing fruit in England (which there is) 

 then this man would make it (which he does). 



Now this talk of paths gives one the idea that people 

 do not here make enough of their paths, as the Japanese 

 do, for there they are skilled in small gardens, and 

 especially in landscape gardens on a tiny scale, making 

 little hills and woods, and views, lakes, streams, and rock 

 gardens in a space about the size of the average suburban 

 garden. Then they are very choice of trees, and value 

 the turning colour of Maples, and the droop of Wisteria, 

 and the shape and blossom of Plum and Cherry trees as 

 fine garden ornaments, while we grow our wonderful 

 lawns. Our lawns, indeed, are remarked by all the 

 world, and wherever you see the words " English Gar- 

 dens " abroad you will know that the people have made 

 a lawn and watered it, and are proud of its fat smooth 

 surface of velvet. But we make the mistake, I think, of 

 growing forest trees on the edge of our lawns and do not 

 enough encourage the wonderful and beautiful varieties 

 of flowering shrubs that there be. Above all we seem to 

 have a passion for dank, black, lustreless Ivy, beloved only 

 of cats, spiders and snails. I have seen many beautiful 

 walls of stone and brick utterly destroyed and defaced 

 by ill-growing Ivy, where the bare walls would give a fine 

 warm background to our flowers. 



The great thing in paths is to make them a little secret, 

 leading round trees to a fresh view, and interlacing them 

 hi pretty and quaint ways, but we, a conservative people, 

 are ill-disposed to cut new paths except in new gardens, 

 and often leave badly designed paths for lack of a little 

 good courage. But we are learning by degrees, and I 



231 



