Page:Japanese Gardens (Taylor).djvu/214

140 of advantages against disadvantages, those mentioned, because of their beauty in the cheerless early spring season, because of their fragrance, because of the sentiment and poetry they inspire, may be put close to the house, and it is even a particularly delicate attention to plant a Plum tree near the guest-room of houses big and rich enough to afford such a chamber.

Plum trees, however, are for rich and poor alike, and do not cost as much to keep as a dog or a cat, with us. Lafcadio Hearn has a pretty translation of a Japanese seventeen-syllable verse, called ‘Happy Poverty,’ which runs—

Trees which lose their leaves in the autumn are usually planted in a group with evergreens, because they not only display better the flowers in the blooming-time, but also conceal the bare branches and continue the effect of green in the winter. Indeed, that is the secret of green gardens,—the colour which, according to Chinese ideas, signifies life is always in itself beautiful and worthy of admiration, and at the same time it venerates age, and brings out the tender freshness of youth. It may typify the continuance of life, even though death and change may appear with it.