A Thirsty June 
about an inch high, and small Maples and Stone Pines about 
a foot in height. There were little Oaks too, said to be about 
thirty-two years old, and no taller than the Maples. The 
tallies were written in Japanese, and must have looked very 
funny. This dwarfing is an expensive and somewhat 
troublesome process, I think, and in consequence these 
gardens are rather costly to buy. At Japanese flower- 
shows I believe specimens of these Dolls’ gardens may 
often be seen improved (?) for the popular taste by tiny 
houses or lakes with bridges. I have been told there is a 
wonderful Rock-garden to be seen at Lamport Hall, near 
Market Harborough, where the object of the owner has 
been to gather round a number of tiny caves and miniature 
mountains, vegetation in proportion. Here there are Cedars 
and Fir-trees not over 5 ft., and curious Alpine plants, one 
very old Aloe scarcely 5 in. high, and tiny miniature Ivies 
growing on tiny trees. Everything is growing, and it has 
taken years of trouble to bring the Rockery to the perfection 
it has attained. In the midst of the Rockery are some 
caves made of bits of sparkling quartz, and miniature 
Earth elves, about 3 inches high, with mining tools, are 
stuck about dramatically posed. But I question whether 
the effect can be improved by these manikins. Curiously 
enough, the clever gentleman who has invented all this 
bears two rather appropriate mottoes : “ I show, not boast,” 
and “ On things transitory resteth no glory.” This last 
assertion, however, I think, is open to doubt. I believe the 
only other outdoor garden of this kind in Europe is one 
belonging to the Emperor of Austria. But they do not 
seem, on a small scale, to be very uncommon in Japan. I 
should like to see one as a curiosity, but I doubt if I 
should really care about it. Japanese literature seems to 
be very rich in writings about nature and flowers. At the 
very time when old John Parkinson was writing in England 
about his garden of Pleasant Flowers for Queen Henrietta 
Maria’s benefit (to whom, by the way, we owe so many of 
our pleasant fruit-trees, there was a man named Yekken 
writing about gardens in Japan. His book, “ The Philo- 
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