AN ENGLISH GARDEN IN SPRING 



was almost at once produced. The climate and 

 the soil are good, and the whole of the gardens, as 

 the illustrations will show, are rich in floral effect. 

 The simple, old-fashioned aspect of the English 

 country home of the past, that had its farmery 

 attached, and that drew no hard-and-fast division 

 between its flower and vegetable gardens, has been 

 sought for and obtained. 



"The title of the house has descended from the 

 days of the episcopal lords marchers, and it implies 

 a certain grandeur in no way reflected by the place 

 as it is to-day. It aims at being a quiet home 

 where the simple life may be led." 



We have not, it is true, the rich backgrounds in 

 buildings for such garden pictures as these, but 

 ours is a climate unsurpassed for spring gardening 

 — subjects in untold variety, not only our fine 

 native flora, but plants, shrubs, and trees from 

 the round world itself, and we may, we do have 

 spring pictures unsurpassed. Such delicious dis- 

 posings of tulips .and myosotis as are here shown 

 should not discourage but stir us to fresh hope 

 and effort in gardening. Still, how could such 

 flowers as these of Mathern Palace appear any- 

 where to such advantage as when they shine 

 against close-shaven foliage, as in the grass alley, 



57 



