House <y Garden 
Jar din Ingles , but, by far the most inter¬ 
esting part of these gardens is reached from 
the first gate, on the Calle de la Reina , near 
the suspension bridge. Straightway before 
us stretches a splendid avenue, a quarter of 
a mile in length, lined on either side with 
foot-paths, and shaded by four rows of huge 
plane-trees. Permission from the guardian, 
which is granted for the asking, seems all that 
is necessary to allow us a full view of these 
splendid gardens. Our attention is called to 
a group of men stretched at full length on 
But what is to be our reward at the end of 
this pleasant walk? That bright patch of 
sunshine at its extremity must bring forth 
some new pleasure, so we hurry along and 
are rejoiced to find another garden filled 
with roses, its name, La F lor era, indi¬ 
cating fully its nature. It is difficult to 
describe our feelings, as we suddenly burst 
from the cooling shade of the trees upon the 
small open and lovelv flower-garden. It is 
a little gem, entirely surrounded by a single 
stick trellis, a series of arches completely 
FOUNTAIN IN THE PLAZA OF SAN ANTONIO 
the grass, just outside the gates, some asleep, 
some idly talking or smoking : “another lot 
of idlers,” we say ; but when an hour later we 
recognize these same men working among 
the flowers, or gathering the luscious straw¬ 
berries now at their best, we realize that these 
“idlers” are the gardeners. The midday heat 
is so great throughout Spain as to cause a gen¬ 
eral cessation of outdoor labor about noon, 
and we find that to our sleeping friends we 
are forced to give the credit for the neatness 
of the garden paths, the flower-beds, walks 
and vegetable patches. 
ARANJUEZ 
enclosing the square. Clambering over the 
arches is a mass of tiny white roses, now in 
the height of their bloom. Box hedges, 
trimmed low, border the beds, where sweet 
william, phlox and other brilliant flowers 
exhale delicious odors. The center-piece to 
this feast for the eye is a small oval pool, 
from which rises on the rocks a basket, filled 
with trailing vines and brilliant geraniums. 
At each corner of the trellised enclosure 
facing the pool is a square gardener’s house, 
roughcast in yellow plaster, covered with 
green latticing, over which more roses 
537 
