68 BOOK OF THE COTTAGE GARDEN 



may be perceptible only to the cultivated mind ; but the 

 humblest cottager takes pleasure in the fragrance of the 

 rose and of the purple violets half hidden in the spring 

 hedgerow. 



The perfume of tree and flower, of grass and mellow 

 earth, is Nature's incense ; she swings her thurible cease- 

 lessly at the head of the long procession of the months. 

 The scent of the first Primrose ! How truly it tells of 

 spring, of greenness in the land, of the life and fresh- 

 ness that is to come. What can be more suggestive of 

 summer days than the cloying sweetness of the stocks, 

 flooding the garden pathways with their heavy frag- 

 rance ! Autumn may have clothed the countryside with 

 gold and russet, yet it is left to the damp and pungent 

 odour of fallen leaves to remind us sadly of the dying 

 year. Instances could be multiplied, but enough has 

 been said to show how impossible it is in a practical 

 book — and the term practical must be held to embrace 

 all such considerations as are likely to promote the 

 pleasures of the garden — to ignore so important a 

 question as that concerned in this chapter. 



In the small garden a special feature should be made 

 of shrubs and plants that exhale a grateful perfume. 

 During summer the windows and doors of the country 

 cottage will be constantly open, and nothing can be 

 more delightful than the fragrance of sweetly scented 

 flowers borne on the breeze into living room and 

 chamber. In the majority of such small gardens the 

 flower borders will be situated close to the house, 

 with shrubs and climbers growing against the walls. 

 For this reason, a certain amount of discrimination must 

 be shown in the selection of plants ; not a few of them, 

 deliciously scented though they be, would render the 

 air somewhat overpowering in a confined space. An 

 example of this is the well-known Mock Orange (Phila- 

 delphus), the scent of which is apt to prove sickly in a 



