A BEAUTIFUL FRUIT GAkDEN 139 



0. Haastii, Tree Lupines, Forsythia, Weigela, the 

 smaller Bush 'Spiraeas, Veronicas, Tamarisk, the large- 

 bloomed Clematises, bush kinds of garden Roses, 

 Funkias, and so on. 



Surely my fruit garden would be not only a place 

 of beauty, of pleasant sight and pleasant thought, 

 but of leisurely repose, a repose broken only faintly 

 and in welcome fashion by its own interests — in July, 

 August and September a goodly place in which to 

 wander and find luscious fruits in quantity that can 

 be gathered and eaten straight from the tree. There 

 is a pleasure in searching for and eating fruit in this 

 way that is far better than having it picked by the 

 gardener and brought in and set before one on a dish 

 in a tame room. Is this feeling an echo of far-away 

 days of savagery when men hunted for their food and 

 rejoiced to find it, or is it rather the poet's delight 

 of having direct intercourse with the good gift of the 

 growing thing and seeing and feeling through all the 

 senses how good and gracious the thing is ? To pass 

 the hand among the leaves of the Fig-tree, noting that 

 they are a little harsh upon the upper surface and yet 

 soft beneath ; to be aware of their faint, dusky scent ; 

 to see the cracking of the coat of the fruit and the 

 yellowing of the neck where it joins the branch — the 

 two indications of ripeness — sometimes made clearer 

 by the drop of honeyed moisture at the eye ; then the 

 handling of the fruit itself, which must needs be gentle 

 because the tender coat is so readily bruised and torn ; 

 at the same time observing the slight gre5dsh bloom 

 and the colouring — low-toned transitions of purple 



