JUNE 355 



what I mean when she thinks the system of the garden 

 she describes can be brought to England. Where there 

 is frost and damp, such things get soon spoilt and in- 

 jured, and look mournful and decayed. Broken-up 

 paving -stones are pretty in a formal garden, and — 

 planted with Lavender, Pinks, Carnations, Rosemary, 

 Saxifrages, and Roses — can be made to look lovely at 

 all seasons. But sunk beds as she describes them, 

 which are perfect for irrigation in the South, would 

 never do here. The plants would damp off. Raised 

 beds, however, are undesirable even in England in light 

 soils. We can no more imitate what is best in the 

 South than they can imitate our velvet lawns and our 

 sweeping Beech trees. Planting the Viola odorata (the 

 Old English garden Violet) under every shrub or tiny 

 Gooseberry and Currant bush, in both flower and kitchen 

 garden, has been a great success with me in Surrey. If 

 tried with even Czar Violets, which require more care 

 and cultivation, it would be a failure. The cultivation 

 of Carnations in pots might be more carried out in Eng- 

 land — with advantage, I think. And it would be better 

 if the pots were painted or glazed half-way down, as 

 done on the Continent, to prevent evaporation. The 

 single -branching Larkspurs of all colours were grown 

 in pots at Florence, and looked so well. I am trying 

 some. They are far prettier than the double annual 

 Larkspur generally grown in England. 



The two most beautiful villas I saw truly carried out, 

 with their lovely grounds, the half -monkish ideal ex- 

 pressed by Newman : ' By a garden is meant mystically 

 a place of spiritual repose, stillness, peace, refreshment, 

 and delight.' Our gay, modem, brilliant, flowery Eng- 

 lish parterres and Scotch and Irish gardens express, to 

 my mind, none of this. Apart from everything else, 

 their limited size renders this impossible. They tell us 



