88 BOOK OF THE COTTAGE GARDEN 



to the owner of making it into a semi-wild garden. A 

 start was made by sowing the ground with the finer 

 meadow grasses ; these were used as a dense sward was 

 not desired, it being proposed to naturalise many small 

 bulbous flowers, which among coarse herbage would 

 soon have disappeared. As may be supposed, the finer 

 mixture did not germinate very readily, and birds took 

 much of the seed. In spite of this, there was soon a 

 crop of sparse, benty herbage, and the bare patches 

 subsequently proved an advantage rather than otherwise. 

 The beautiful Ivy-leaved Cyclamen (C. hederaefolium) 

 was planted freely in the thinnest places, and during 

 winter the handsome leaves, produced after the flowers 

 had faded, covered the ground with spreading carpets 

 of foliage. Snowdrops, Aconites, Scillas, Grape 

 Hyacinths, Dog's Tooth Violets, Fritillaries and Star 

 of Bethlehem were also naturalised in irregular drifts, 

 each variety being kept separate. In October, when 

 the fruit trees were putting on their autumn tints, the 

 ground was sheeted in places with the rosy -lilac 

 flowers of Meadow Saffron (C. autumnale), whose 

 strong tufts of glossy leaves were a welcome feature 

 during spring. In addition to the bulbs, single 

 Primroses of as many colours as possible were planted 

 in scattered colonies. The patches of mauve, yellow 

 and white, seen between the trees made a delightful 

 picture, and although fine blooms could not be expected 

 under the circumstances, the flowers were none the less 

 beautiful on that account. No herbaceous plants were 

 grown, the orchard being intended more as a spring 

 wild garden than anything else. 



These two examples should serve to suggest other 

 ways in which the orchard may be planted with many 

 families of hardy things. To lay down precise rules 

 for forming orchard gardens would be fatal, as nothing 

 formal or stereotyped should be attempted. The health 



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