4 GARDENS OF ENGLAND 



far ahead of us in these respects. In France and 

 in Belgium, our nearest neighbours, for example, 

 we see small plots of garden ground cultivated 

 with the utmost skill, crop succeeding crop of 

 vegetable produce, tended with the keenest sense 

 of profit and with seldom an inch to spare for any 

 vanities in the way of flowers. In England alone 

 we find cottage gardens of fair size, many of them 

 sadly enough going to waste for want of care and 

 practical diligence, but even so, often with the 

 redeeming feature of some few bright flowers — 

 while, at its best, the cottager's plot is a marvel of 

 gay colours and sweet scents, as well as of thrifty 

 produce, and becomes thei envy of many whose 

 position in life is far higher. 



It may be the neutral tints of our mist-laden 

 atmosphere that make sea-girt folk like ourselves 

 crave for the contrast of rich, warm colour. 

 Perhaps it is the sweet English spring-time, sur- 

 passed in no other land, with its budding greenery, 

 its primroses and flooring of blue, which stirs some 

 lurking sense of the poetry which lies hidden below 

 the surface of every nature, however rude and 

 simple, that creates this longing to have such 

 beautiful things always with us. Who can teH? 

 Whatever the compelling influence, the fact remains 



