Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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A Garden A Garden is a lovesome thing, God wot! Rose plot, Fringed pool, Fern’d grot— The veriest school Of peace; and yet the fool Contends that God is not— Not God! in Gardens! when the eve is cool? Nay, but I have a sign; ’Tis very sure God walks in mine.” J. E. Brown. Bermuda Through the Eyes of a Horticulturist If you have spent all your life in that part of the temperate region where the active growing season of plants is terminated by the arrival of the frost and snow of winter, and where man and beast have to provide for the winter by laying in stock, fuel and food, then you know of tropical and subtropical vegetation and climate only from accounts, written or spoken; or you may have received a glimpse of the vegetation in the corner of a private conservatory or in the conservatories of the Botanic Gardens in the cities. Since the region of the subtropical climate and the vegetation adapted to it stretches around the whole girth of the earth in zones north and south of the torrid zone, and as the vegetation in the different parts of these zones are modified by the relative distance from the equator, the various influences of atmosphere and water currents as well as relative location to the .oceans, altitude, geological formation and soil conditions,— it would take a long journey to become actually acquainted with the whole scope of subtropical vegetation. Therefore, if you desire to come in contact with subtropical climate and have only little time to spare, the Bermuda Islands with charms, origin, history, all their own should be your goal. A forty-eight-hour trip by boat from New York, covering nearly 700 miles, will take you to a group of coral islands out at sea, their geographical location being 32 deg. north and 64 deg. west. There are 365 islands in number, but only five of them are of importance now. These islands are built up by the coral building polypi on the top of an extinct volcano rising from the ocean. Crushed shells and lime mixed with sand and water under the influence of wind and weather are making the foundation of the islands. A thin layer of soil has accumulated from decomposing organic matter and sand, and plants adapted to conditions in Bermuda have become established. 10

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terest in garden craft the apple tree is coming back into its own. Almost all English gardens demonstrate how much interest changes of level, which necessitate steps and retaining walls, add to a design. From the more formal St. Catherine’s Court to the more informal terraces of Mr. Peto’s house, the soft-weathered grays of the native stone serve as a foil for the brilliancy of the flowers. Ilford Manor near Bath, the home of the well-known architect, Mr. Peto, boasts a charming terraced area. The clever use of stone features is full of inspiration for the designer. Granted that the architect has been extremely fortunate in his collection of Italian stone antiques, still it is the setting of paved terraces, stone stairways and walls which tie his collection together, and add the feeling for form without which the garden becomes a hodge-podge mixture with no delineation. English gardens are the result of a constant, long-continued growth. England has passed through many schools of garden craft and has learned something from each extravagance. We still enjoy the walled gardens of the monastery type, the stone garden houses, flowering orchards and fish ponds of the mediaeval pleasaunce, and the vine-covered arbors, and fascinating patterns of nosegay flowers and quaintly clipped box of the Tudor days. Since Elizabethan times there has been a logical, intimate relation between house and garden, and the flower border has demanded recognition. The beautiful parks of such estates as Bowood and Wilton House, with their famous lawns, magnificent low-spreading trees, and luxuriance of undergrowth planting tying the lawn to the tree masses, are the results of mistakes made during the reign of the landscape school iconoclasts. The more recent development of wild gardening during the end of the nineteenth century under Robinson, since the atrocious habit of so-called rockeries has disappeared, has resulted in the intelligent planting of wild areas. Miss Jekyll inspires enthusiasm for this kind of work, in descriptions of woodlands where masses or “drifts” of daffodils, scillas, rhododendrons and laurels, foxgloves, roses, lilies, and such trees as birches, beeches and holly give an ever-changing color picture. At her home, Munstead Wood, she has indulged her love of woodland plantings. The main ideas of this wild gardening have not been abandoned, still there has been a decided return to formality. The modern school of garden makers includes many architects who plan gardens depending on precision of line and balance of masses for beauty. The modern schools are tolerant of each other and attempt to use the best of each in its place without extravagance of manner. Elizabeth Dickerman Jones. 9

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Due to their peculiar geological formation, the islands are devoid of fresh water springs and for water the people of the islands are dependent on the rainfall through the year, the rain being caught from the roofs of the houses in reservoirs installed in each house. The government has also established large reservoirs for its own use and for emergencies. All the cisterns are under the supervision of the Health Department and have to be cleaned and disinfected at least once a year and the roofs have to be kept under a whitewash. The limestone underlying the soil is soft before being exposed to air and can be cut readily into blocks, when taken from the quarries. Through exposure to the air the stone hardens and the blocks of limestone are used for the building of the houses on the islands for the roofs as well as the walls, giving a white and immaculate appearance to the entire settlement. The crushed limestone mixed with water is used for the making of smooth and solid roads. The result of seepage of water through the soil and the limestone into grottoes underneath the limestone formation in some part of the islands, have given origin to beautiful crystal caves where drops of water laden with concentrated lime have formed large and small glistening crystals, stalactites hanging down from the roof of the cavern and stalagmites, building up from the drip, to meet them. One can reach these caves through passage ways cut through the limestone, and electric lights unnoticeably attached, are lighting up the calcite formation on walls and roofs and the groups of artistic columns and curious shapes resembling human beings at times, making them scintillate and glisten, and suggesting fairyland. One of the caves has filled up partly with water, after the stalagmites had formed, these reaching up through the water now, and since the water is tidal and apparently connected with the ocean, pontoon bridges lead through the whole length of the cave. Returning to the surface of the islands and driving along the roads, one is greeted by the growth of cedars, a species of juniper typical of Bermuda, palms and tamarisk, lantanas and century plants, sending up their flower stems to the height of telegraph poles, hibiscus and oleanders, bryophyllums and large blue: morning glories, all of these growing wild along the roadside and around old quarries. Again they may be seen adorning gardens and pleasure grounds where they are mingling and rivalling in growth and bloom those of roses, bougainvilleas, many kinds of shrubs and in particular that of the brightly colored shrub, ‘Match-me-if-you-can” (Acalypha). The vegetables gardens will be found to produce all the vegetables of our climate. The Bermuda Department of Agriculture is trying out the various varieties of each kind of vegetable, in order to determine which of those in the market are best suited to its climate and soil, since one of the most important industries of the islands is the growing of early onions, beets, carrots and potatoes for the American markets. 11