Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1912-04-05


kI thoughts with an excursion to the
EM Blue Grotto; but as l watch, from
II V&EyD the Great Terrace at San Michele,
~AX the little steamer, fully thousand
a. Gsxsh "a feet beneath me- laden with tour
y w lists of all nationalitties, plying her
~ way back to Naples, a sense of
II An y peace once descends upon
the island And surely nowhere can
earth present a fdirer scene. Far away on the
western harizon the dim outlines of the Ponza
Islands are visible. Ischia floating in the golden
haze of the dying day. seems linked by Procida
and Nisida to the mainland, and the eye travels
slowly eastward over Posilippo and Naples to
where Vesuvius, brooding and silent since the
great catastrophe of five years ago keeps watch
over the city it has so often threatened with de-
struction Still further east the distant peaks OF
the great Apennine Range appear almost to fringe
the sunlit waters OF the Bay of Sorrento. whose
cliffs dotted with pink and white walled houses,
dominated by the rugged of SAINT
Angelo and the hills which guard Ravelo and
Salerno's gulf.
WeHnigh two thousand years have come and
gone since Augustus Caesar, wearied by the
spendors of imperial Rome first gazed the
matchless beauty of this scene small wonder
that the magic spell which Capri throughout the
ages has cast upon the stranger within her gates
should lose of its potency till mems hearts
shall cease to care for beauty Since my garden
first came into being I have often analysed how
imperious is this love of beauty, for. from a
purely gardening point of view, no one would
select a spot exposed to all the winds of heaven
and bereft of water on springless island And
yet Nature supplies the compensation in having
provided such background to the picture that
she must continue to dominate 1t, making amends
for the inevitable failures which the gardener
is forever encountering. And If the growing"
period is short in this sun-baked land yet again
it is prodigous in result while it lasts Gardening
in Italy teaches one of many lessons; namely to
@h1 fbo g.
quick effect-that of planting trees and shrubs
too large in size: the smaller establish
themselves and go ahead in half the time, making
compact and sturdy growth, and also avoiding
the necessity for unsightly stalking. Six years
ago the hill of San Michele was little more than
a barren rock clothed in parts with vineyards and
olives Approaching Capri from Naples, it is cas-
lily discernible as it rises midway between the
precipitous cliffs at the eastern end and Monte
Soaro the highest summit Of the island; this
exposure to all points of the compass is being
utilized to advantage, as the difference between
the north and south aspect amounts to fully
fortnight in the Towering season.
The modest little house-originally the Colonos
Lies at the base of the hill the southern side.
The vineyard which surrounded 1t has been
cleared and a terrace and parterre substituted
here in the spring months Darwin and Cottage
tulips faunt their painted faces in the sunshine
freesa, narciss ixias and sparaxis (for Capri Is
a buIbson par excellence): roses are rapidly COW
ering the columns and wreathing the olive trees.
all grated on the Banksan rose that boon to the
gardener in the south. Beyond the parterre, in
the lower garden. a long tank, hanked by
expresses either SIDE holds the beautiful Mel
umbum-the Lotus of Old Nile-speciosum ro-
scum, rubrum Shiroman and Osiris-a feast for
the eve denied to the gardens of the north.
Will you come with pilgrimage up the
hill through the old lemon garden, where the
trees, pershing from neglect, but well
screened from their cruel enemy the south wind.
bearing thousands of yellow fruit, and the air
is laden with the scent of blossom? AS we as
cend, each successive terrace holds its quota of
bulbs and iris under the silvery sheen of the
olive trees until we reach at length the rose
garden and here it is well to rest while The
Southern Sea stretches below us, with the pic
turesque ruin of Castglione in the middle dis
lance Against background of tall bamboos at,
our feet bloom the roses for which Capri Gas
Paestum was Of old) Is famed What would have
been the feelings OF Virgil could he have looked
on the goodly array to which rosarians are now
accustomed-Mme A. Chatenay the Lyon rose
Richmond Betty, Marquise de Ganay Nine Leon
Pain in addition to all the older favorites such
as Anna Olivier. Nine. Ravary, Caroline Testout,
to say nothing OF pillars wreathng themselves
with Snica Anemone sTausendschon Ideal and
the Michuraianas, From the rose harden the
circling of the hill commences; broad path,
planted on either side with Towering shrubs
wigelas lilac syringa deutzias pomegranates
and gueder roses-leads to the vine-clad per-
COLA and as we leave it, at the farther end. the
Incompatible Bay Of Naples greets the eye All
available ground on the hillside is being utilized
for shrubs and plants. with wind breaks of Gu
pressus macr0carpa and Pinus halepensis which
grow at a surprising rate in this sandy soil Here
TO be fotsHd the towering crabs thorns and
almonds while Japanese naples and Rosa rli-
gosa give feast of color In the foreground in,
1ersDersed with tenderer shrubs such Fahiana