20 A GARDEN DIARY 
open to the sky. They may be furnished with 
trees, with bushes, with heather, with grass, or 
with alpine plants. On the whole the easiest 
glade to create, and certainly one of the plea- 
santest when made, is the grassy one. Even a 
perfectly level bit of ground can be induced with 
care to pass by gradations into a grassy glade, 
though where there is some natural slope the 
matter is of course very much easier. In that 
case all that is necessary is to add a sufficiency 
of earth on either side of the upper part of our 
incline, leaving the lower to merge by insensible 
degrees to the natural level. The essential point 
is not to miss the right moment for the sowing 
of the grass seed. This month of September is 
in this soil unquestionably the best month in the 
year for that purpose. August is apt to be too 
hot, October may be frosty, while spring sowings 
are in my experience exceedingly delusive. If 
the summer that follows them is wet, all goes 
well. Seeing however that each summer since 
we came here has been more thirsty than its 
predecessor, it were hardly the part of prudence 
to rely upon that. 
It has been a satisfaction to us to find that 
a moderate upturning of the soil does not 
apparently disturb those inmates of it that we 
wish to retain. Bluebells and bracken both have 
their roots at a depth to which the spade in these 
operations need not penetrate, while to super- 
