33 
SIR PETER EADE ON “ MY CITY GARDEN.” 
I am glad to say that I (in common with others dwelling in 
St. Giles’s Street and on St. Giles’s Plain) am still one of the 
residents in older Norwich with a garden of considerable size. 
And in my case this advantage is considerably enhanced by the 
immediate proximity of Chapel Field. For this large open space 
of seven acres not only provides a great circulation of air, and so 
a more healthy vegetation, but also — by its numerous and lofty 
trees — invites a large amount of varied and varying bird-life. 
As I have now been a dweller in St. Giles’s for many years, it 
has occurred to me that a few current notes — however imperfect 
and superficial — on the capabilities and possibilities of such a central 
city garden, as illustrated by these, might possibly be an acceptable 
contribution to the proceedings of this our Norwich ‘Naturalists’ 
Society.’ 
The real object of the paper is to show in a simple way what 
a large field these home city gardens, according to their size, may 
still afford for observation and intelligent amusement ; and how 
even in the limited space and depreciated air which naturally 
belong to many of them, they yet afford great opportunities for 
the observation of both vegetable and animal life. The simple 
grass-plots themselves, however small, when carefully tended 
and shaven, are in themselves a constant source of pleasurable 
satisfaction ; whilst the very worms which inhabit them, and the 
birds which feed on these, afford much room for study of some of 
nature’s methods and instinctive tendencies. 
Doubtless the larger space which I possess gives wider oppor- 
tunities than smaller gardens. But these must be small indeed 
which do not offer full repayment for observation of the varied life 
which exists within them, or which may be imported into them. 
Ary garden is about 60 yards in length, by about 26 yards in 
width. It runs nearly north and south. It has walls of varying 
height on its several sides. Near to the house these are covered 
on one side by trained wasteria and white and yellow jessamine, 
but the greater part of the other portions is covered with ivy. The 
area of the ground is principally laid with grass, with a broad 
gravel walk around it. 
Under the east wall is a long terraced rockery, well covered with 
suitable plants ; and along the west wall runs a broader bed devoted 
to very small shrubs and to flowers. The south end, under a stable 
D 
