THE SPRING FLOWER GARDEN. 



17 



THE SPRING FLOWER GARDEN. 



By VV. H. Divers, V.M.H. 



[Read March 4, 1913 ; Sir J. T. D. Llewelyn, Bart., V.M.H. , in the Chair.] 



The furnishing of the Spring Flower Garden is a subject worthy our 

 consideration for several reasons. There is much room for develop- 

 ment and improvement in our treatment of spring-flowering plants. 

 They appeal to everyone, and to many far more than the summer 

 occupants of the garden. The frequency with which they are referred 

 to by our poets is well known. Many of the lines are often quoted 

 and I do not intend to weary you to-day by repeating them, but one 

 of the earliest is found in the Song of Solomon — " The flowers 

 appear on the earth ; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the 

 voice of the turtle is heard in our land." Spring flowers were evidently 

 appreciated 3000 years ago. Everyone knows how many Shakespeare 

 mentions, and Wordsworth has many references to them, he who 

 was such a lover of nature and lived in such picturesque surroundings. 

 I have known people who would walk a long distance to see the first 

 Snowdrop and the first Primrose ; there is something very wonderful 

 in the way these little bulbs and plants feel the influence of returning 

 warmth and sunshine. 



One of the chief things to be considered in the cultivation of these 

 early flowers is the formation of the garden, and the shelter they will 

 receive, either from the situation of the ground or from surrounding 

 objects such as trees and similar things. Few, I imagine, have such 

 natural advantages as we have at Belvoir, and I will ask you kindly to 

 excuse me if I refer to our garden too often in the course of my lecture, 

 for I cannot easily imagine a better situation. It is formed in this 

 way. We have a range of hills running mainly from east to west, 

 in many places very narrow on the top, and rising sharply about 

 200 feet above the level of the surrounding land. There are many 

 evidences that this range was left in some far distant past when the 

 valleys close by were formed by water agency ; when this happened 

 many nice curving recesses were formed along the hillside as the 

 waters swept along, and in one of these our Spring Garden — or, as it is 

 usually called " The Duchess' Garden " — is situated ; it has the form of 

 a horseshoe, and is open to the S.E., covers about 8 acres, and has 

 a fall of 100 feet from the top to the bottom. When I add it is sur- 

 rounded on all sides by tall forest trees you will see what a nice warm 

 place it is in the winter and early spring ; it catches every ray of 

 the sun, and usually feels many degrees warmer than the open 

 country. I find it is not warmer at night, and we no doubt owe much 

 of our success in growing tender shrubs and plants to the way in 



VOL. XXXIX. C 



