The Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1912-1917, 1912-04-05

earth present fairer scene. Far away on the
western horizon, 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 Posilippo and Naples to
where Vesuvius brooding and silent since the
great catastrophe of FIVE years ago, keeps watch
over the city 1t has so often threatened with de-
structon. 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 Ravello and
Salerno's gulf
Well-ntgh two thousand years have come and
gone since Augustus Caesar, wearied by the
splendors Of imperial Rome, first gazed on 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 none of its potency till mems hearts
shall cease to care for beauty. Since my garden
first came into being, have often analysed how
imperious is this love of beauty for, from
purely gardening point of view, one would
select 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 it, 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
1t Is prodigious in result while it lasts Gardening
In Italy teaches of many lessons; namely to
avoid the temptation arising from the desire for
quick efect-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 little more than
barren rock, clothed in parts with vineyards and
olives. Approaching Capri from Naples, it Is cas-
lily discernible as it rises midway between the
srJfo, -oI{Frr Oh ofar o,,I
solaro, tie 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 Colono's
lies at the base of the hill on the southern side
The vineyard which surrounded it has been
cleared and g. terrace and parterre substituted;
here in the spring months Darwin and Cottage
tulips f1aunt their painted faces in the sunshine;
reesia narcissi, fxias and sparaxis (for Capri Is
bulb-soil par exceence); roses rapidly COW
ering the columns and wreathng the olive trees
all grated the Banksian rose, that boon to the
gardener in the south. Beyond the parterre in
the lower garden, a long tank thanked by
expresses either side, holds the beautiful Mel
umbium-the Lotus of Old Nile-speciosum
scum. rubrum, Shiroman and Osiris-a feast for
the eye denied to the gardens of the north
Will you come with me pilgrimage up the
hill through the old lemon garden, where the
screened from their cruel enemy, the south wind
bearing thousands Of yellow fruit, and the air
is laden with the scent of blossom? AS as
cend, each successive terrace holds its quota OF
bulbs and iris, under the silvery sheen of the
olive trees, until reach at length the
garden, and here it Is we'll to rest while The
Southern Sea stretches below us, with the pic
turesque ruin of Castigone in the middle dis
lance Against background of tall bamboos at
our feet bloom the roses for which Capri Gas
Paestum 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
Observation-Disclosures A. Chatenay, the Lyon rose,
Richmond, Betty, Marquise de Ganay, Nine. Leon
Pain in addition to all the older favorites such
Anna Olivier Nine. Ravary Caroline Testout
to say nothing of pillars wreathing themselves
with Sinica Anemone, Tausendschon Ideal and
the Michuraianas! From the rose garden the
planted either side with towering shrubs
wigelas, lilac, syringa, deutzias, pomegranates
and guelder roses-leads to the vineclad per-
COLA, and leave it, at the farther end the
Incompatible Bay of Naples greets the eye. Ali
available ground the hillside is being utilized
for shrubs and plants with wind breaks of Gu
pressus macrocarpa and Pinus halepensis, which
grow at surprising rate in this sandy soil. Here
are to be found the Towering crabs, thorns and
almonds. while Japanese naples and Rosa ru-
gosa give feast of color in the foreground, in
terspersed with tenderer shrubs such as Fabiana