In My Vicarage Garden 



stop all grumbling. But in this particular year 

 (1900) there has been little or no cause for 

 grumbling, because the failures have been so few, 

 while the successes have been so many. I suppose 

 the oldest among us cannot recollect a year in 

 which there has been such a marvellous abundance 

 of flowers, such healthy growth, and such richness 

 of colour in the flowers, and such a delightful 

 season in which to enjoy it all. It has been so 

 all the year. I noted it in what I said of the 

 flowers of spring, and the flowers of summer have 

 carried on the story. The fruit trees were beauti- 

 ful pictures, with scarcely an exception — beginning 

 with the plums, the pears, apples, cherries, and all 

 the wall fruits were so laden with flowers that if 

 the fruit had been in proportion to the flowers the 

 crops would have been almost too much for the 

 trees ; but in this part of the country many of 

 the flowers were abortive, and so the crops, though 

 probably above the average, are less than many 

 looked for. 



Then came the roses, and they surpassed them- 

 selves. In my own garden I have never seen 

 such a display of the beautiful rich yellow R. 

 kemispkcerica, a rose of which I am very fond, not 

 only for its beauty, but also for its long history 

 and many associations ; for it is one of the oldest 

 roses in cultivation. It is true that it very seldom 

 shows its full beauty, for it forms its flowers very 

 early and they are apt to be injured by late frosts, 

 or even by cold nights some degrees above 

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