XIX 
VANCOUVER ISLAND 
The lure of the far-famed gardens of the island so 
close to our shores is enticing enough to make a happy 
excuse for giving the space of a page to one of its smaller 
gardens. 
In the heart of this fair garden, in the country of the 
Englishman, at the end of this book on American gardens, 
the author, though a proud American, unhesitatingly ad- 
mits that usually it is the Englishman who has inspired us 
to make gardens as nearly as possible like those of the 
mother country. Is it the old blood that is stirring 
within us, the common bond of past associations and 
brotherhood so often expressed in our physical resem- 
blances as well as in many of our ideals? The garden in 
the accompanying illustrations shows a beautiful combina- 
tion of flowers with picturesque old trees. 
The climate of this favored place is even more de- 
lightful and balmy than that of the mainland, and the 
charm of the great Pacific is doubly felt along these quiet 
shores. The untravelled may picture it as isolated and 
forsaken, but rather is it just enough retired to be apart 
without loneliness; and, except in a few cities, excluding 
340 
