MOTTO FOR THE WEEK 
“The juicy Pear lies, in a soft profusion, scattered round.”— Thomson. 
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-- 
AN AMATEUR'S LETTER 
TO AMATEURS. 
: By die author of “ The Garden Decorative 
etc., etc. 
XI. 
Variety in the Garden. 
. “ Variety is the spice of life ” is at once a 
i pithy and a true saying, and the enthusiastic 
nower-lover may well make it apply with 
I equal force to his garden. It is not that our 
interest wants sustaining, but, all the same, it 
adds a zest and an additional and piquant 
! flavour to our gardening operations, if, as the 
autumn wears on, some alteration, some new 
j feature can be effected. The alterations need 
not, of necessity, amount to much, but there is 
a delightful sense of looking forward : if it is to 
| see our familiar plants in a fresh setting, the 
new bed or the new border has the untried 
charm and interest of a new garden. These 
alterations or additions should, moreover, add 
considerably to the beauty and decorative effect 
of the garden as a whole. A narrow ineffective 
border will often become tenfold more valuable 
as a decorative feature if it be widened just 
sufficiently to contain a single extra row of 
plants. A rock garden, however simple it may 
be, adds, both character and distinction. The 
making of some neglected and outlying portion 
into a beautiful wild or natural garden will do 
much to make an ordinary and common¬ 
place garden both picturesque and artistic. 
A pergola may prove a desirable addition, or, if 
that would be out of place and ill-fitting to the 
general character, then it may be that a series 
of arches—arches in due time to be covered with 
dense masses of Rose, or Clematis, or Honey¬ 
suckle blossoms—will prove a means of attaining 
a splendid massing of deep rich colour. These 
are some of the ways and methods of bringing- 
variety and new interests into our gardening 
operations, and I mention them merely as 
suggestions. The true garden-lover likes to 
have some excuse for working among, his 
flowers long after the beauty of the year has 
passed, and there will be few gardens, whether 
in town or country, large or small, where some¬ 
thing, some one or another of the above 
alterations or additions will not” make for 
greater beauty; and, of course, there is no 
time like the present for carrying them out. 
Making New Paths, 
There is one garden operation that, if 
attempted, needs to be carried out in a 
thorough and workmanlike manner. I mean 
the making of new paths. The great thing 
to aim at is to achieve one that will not 
hold the water and be in a saturated 
condition through the winter. The novice 
may think it enough to “ set it out ” where he 
wishes it to be, to have the soil beaten down, 
and sufficient gravel spread over it. I once 
saw such a pathway, and the novice who made 
it was proud of his handiwork ! I saw the 
same path three months later—the maker of it 
was no longer proud ; it was a soft puddle 
almost impassable. In any but the lightest 
and sandiest soil a proper foundation must be 
laid, that is to say, below the gravel must be a 
layer of stones. This constitutes a basis into 
which superfluous moisture readily drains. A 
second point to remember, when it comes to the 
practical work, is to make the centre portion 
higher than the sides ; it is not unsightly, if 
neatly rounded. 
The Paving of Pathways. 
There is much to be said for the growing 
fashion of the making of pathways in the 
immediate neighbourhood of the house of pav¬ 
ing stones or bricks. English architects have 
realised that it is desirable to have a close con¬ 
nection between the house and that portion of 
garden in close proximity, and I have before me 
plans illustrating this distinct attempt at more 
closely associating the two. It seems to me 
that this cannot be more happily effected than 
by use of the paved pathway, completed, if 
necessary, by stone or brick-faced steps to a 
lower level. This amount of formality near 
the house is distinctly pleasing, and gives 
a delightful sense of care and orderliness. 
There is picturesqueness in the flagged path¬ 
way that leads up to many a country cottage : 
one recognises it as a means of preventing dirt 
being carried into the house : its raison 
d'etre is evident and all sufficing to make it 
good art, and the same might apply to 
thousands of villa and other houses. 
Where Steps are Suitable 
Steps, whether formal or rugged as shall best 
suit the general character of the garden, are in 
all cases a pleasing feature; but it is not in 
every garden that they can be introduced, and of 
course, they are not a legitimate feature where 
there is no real need for them. In the many 
hundreds of gardens I have observed critically 
I have always paid especial attention to this 
feature. I have seen steps that seemed to be 
the very making of a small garden, giving it 
both character and individuality. I have seen 
steps made that had no business ever to have 
existed, and I have seen gardens on a dead 
level which yet had steps introduced that 
were in admirable fitness. In this case a 
sunken rock garden—that is to say the path - 
way running through it—had been dug down 
to a considerable depth and an exit to an orchard 
path, midway, gave ample excuse for the intro¬ 
duction of steps. The idea was ingenious, but 
an artistic effect was the result. 
Autumn Planting. 
Where late planting of perennials has to b e 
made it should be borne in mind that young 
plants—seedlings of a few months' growth— 
should not be risked in very cold, heavy soil. 
For a long time I thought I should never 
succeed in growing the beautiful large-flowered 
pale blue Scabiosa caucasica in the heavy soil 
of a London suburban garden. Each year I 
sowed seed, and when autumn came duly 
planted out the young plants, and each winter 
proved fatal to them. I was determined to 
succeed, however, and I tried planting the 
seedling plants in the better drained rock 
garden. The winter did not kill them, and 
they flowered grandly. The next autumn, when 
they had become sturdy and mature plants, 1 
experimented with them, and again tried the 
effect of planting them in the cold water¬ 
logged border. A good percentage survived, 
thus proving that you can dare with an older 
and more mature plant what you must not 
venture with seedling plants! This little bit 
of knowledge has often proved of great service 
at the autumn planting, and I hope it may be 
a hint worth remembering to others. 
F. M. Wells. 
Mr. George Bun-yard, of Maidstone, giv¬ 
ing evidence on the fruit industry before 
the Board of Agriculture’s departmental com¬ 
mittee, expressed the opinion that a duty 
should be charged on all foreign fruit. “ The 
foreign nurseryman,” Mr. Bunyard said, 
“ cannot touch the English nurseryman so 
far as the quality of his trees is concerned, 
but his material is cheaper.” By the way, 
the hearing before this committee of . the evi¬ 
dence of sixty-seven witnesses took twenty- 
four days, during which 11,968 questions were 
asked. 
