Produced by Suzanne Shell, Cathy Maxam and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Old Time Gardens [Illustration] OLD-TIME GARDENS _Newly set forth_ _by_ ALICE MORSE EARLE _A BOOK OF_ THE SWEET O' THE YEAR "_Life is sweet, brother! There's day and night, brother! both sweet things: sun, moon and stars, brother! all sweet things: There is likewise a wind on the heath._" [Illustration] NEW YORK THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON MACMILLAN & CO LTD MCMII _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped November, 1901. Reprinted December, 1901; January, 1902. _Norwood Press_ _J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith_ _Norwood, Mass., U.S.A._ [Illustration: TO MY DAUGHTER ALICE CLARY EARLE TO WHOSE KNOWLEDGE OF FLOWERS AND LOVE OF FLOWER LORE I OWE MANY PAGES OF THIS BOOK....] Contents CHAPTER PAGE I. COLONIAL GARDEN-MAKING 1 II. FRONT DOORYARDS 38 III. VARIED GARDENS FAIR 54 IV. BOX EDGINGS 91 V. THE HERB GARDEN 107 VI. IN LILAC TIDE 132 VII. OLD FLOWER FAVORITES 161 VIII. COMFORT ME WITH APPLES 192 IX. GARDENS OF THE POETS 215 X. THE CHARM OF COLOR 233 XI. THE BLUE FLOWER BORDER 252 XII. PLANT NAMES 280 XIII. TUSSY-MUSSIES 296 XIV. JOAN SILVER-PIN 309 XV. CHILDHOOD IN A GARDEN 326 XVI. MEETIN' SEED AND SABBATH DAY POSIES 341 XVII. SUN-DIALS 353 XVIII. GARDEN FURNISHINGS 383 XIX. GARDEN BOUNDARIES 399 XX. A MOONLIGHT GARDEN 415 XXI. FLOWERS OF MYSTERY 433 XXII. ROSES OF YESTERDAY 459 INDEX 479 List of Illustrations The end papers of this book bear a design of the flower Ambrosia. The vignette on the title-page is re-drawn from one in _The Compleat Body of Husbandry_, Thomas Hale, 1756. It represents "Love laying out the surface of the earth in a garden." The device of the dedication is an ancient garden-knot for flowers, from _A New Orchard and Garden_, William Lawson, 1608. The chapter initials are from old wood-cut initials in the English Herbals of Gerarde, Parkinson, and Cole. PAGE