NEWS OF SPRING 



veils. But, for the plain squares of grass, simple, primitive, 

 immemorial and bordered with tall, straight poplars, the au- 

 thorities have substituted a sort of vulgar and pretentious Pare 

 Monceau, which would be lordly and is positively shabby. 

 The necessary harmony between houses and trees has ceased 

 to exist; and one of the most delightful memories of former 

 days disappears with it. 



You will find many other horticultural errors at Ghent, 

 a city which has been too actively and somewhat recklessly 

 tampered with. For instance, between Saint-Bavon and the 

 Chateau de Gerard de Diable there is a fairly large open space, 

 which the authorities have turned into the inevitable English 

 square. The effect of its sickly, exotic and anomalous green- 

 ery against the austere and mighty background of the cathe- 

 dral is childish beyond all dispute. Would not a humble 

 grass-plot, planted with Lombardy poplars, have better re- 

 spected the harmony that we expect to find between the stones 

 and plants; or else the old-fashioned Flemish mall, peopled 

 regularly with big, round, comely, bunchy lime-trees? These, 

 moreover, do not in any way exclude floral ornamentation, 

 provided that the latter follows the general and familiar move- 

 ment of the grass and the shade. 



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