20 



ROYAL GARDENS 



then beauty does not depend on size. The proportion of 

 all its parts, features and accessories has been so justly kept 

 that the garden excites the same emotions as an exquisitely 

 finished gem of art. While it is almost Italian in its method 

 of terracing, something Japanese in its fondness for tiny plants 

 and details, it is altogether English in its grand surroundings, 

 and in the vast majority of the flowers grown. Notwithstand- 

 ing the minuteness of many of its denizens, great care has 

 been taken to preserve a broad general effect. And above all 

 comes the thought that here, on a site actually made as a 

 defence against attack in war, under the frowning towers of the 

 stern old fortress, within the battlemented ramparts crowning 

 the impregnable escarpment on which the ancient castle stands, 

 has been established a garden of peace and beauty as a hopeful 

 sign that some day wars may cease, and that nations may in the 

 fulness of time turn to the real fulfilment of the law of love. 



NORMAN TOWER GARDEN 



By Mr. A. J. HUBBARD, Gardener 



In writing about the Norman Tower garden, or as some 

 prefer to name it, " The Moat " garden, from its being on the 

 site of the old fosse which was once at the foot of the Round 

 Tower, we are confronted with the question, who first con- 

 ceived the idea of a garden in this spot ? It may and pro- 

 bably did originate with birds dropping seeds of various plants 

 and shrubs, the wind also helping. And after these seeds had 

 grown and in part covered the bare bank, Man stepped in and 

 converted it into a garden. Crude no doubt, and not much 

 like it is at the present time, but still a garden. Whatsoever 

 its origin, a garden certainly existed here from quite an early 

 time. King James I. of Scotland, who was a prisoner of state 

 in the Norman Tower from 141 3 to 1424, speaks of it as 



" A garden fair, and in the corners set 

 A herbere green," 



