Woodland Drives and Grass Walks 97 



the strictly necessary dimensions, it is surprising how 

 much the wearisome trouble of hoeing is done away 

 with. The toilsome labour of ripping up walks, raking, 

 and hoeing, seen in so many gardens, need not, happily, 

 go on. It only makes matters worse by softening 

 the walks, for the hoeing is a serious labour in the hot 

 days and is absolutely unnecessary. 



Having our Grass drive or Grass walk, what shall 

 we place beside it ? Our British plants are as fair as 

 any others, and we may see as beautiful groups of fern, 

 heather, thorn, and bramble as are given by the flora 

 of any country. Still, those who care for the plants 

 of other countries have by the Grass walk a charming 

 opportunity of adding other pretty things to our own 

 wild flowers. 



There is much difference in districts as to their 

 wild flowers and the effects from native plants. Some 

 places may be full of beautiful things — others have very 

 few. What a place has in this way depends upon the 

 cultivation and the quality of the land, and other con- 

 ditions which need not be gone into; it is enough to 

 know that these differences exist. Where the natural 

 vegetation is poor, there is all the greater need for 

 adding beautiful things of easy naturalization. Our 

 wood anemone is pretty in the fields and groves in 

 spring, but the blue Apennine anemone, which is quite 

 hardy, gives us a wholly distinct and charming colour, 

 and this is true of other things. The high mountain 

 plants of the Alps of Europe, to whose flora many 



