INTRODUCTION The very name of Madeira (or island of timber, as the word signifies) brings to the minds of most people a suggestion of luxuriant vegetation flourishing in a damp, enervating climate. Such, indeed, was my own mental picture of Madeira before my first visit to the island. I expected to find every garden with the aspect of a fernery, moisture dripping everywhere, and the hills clothed with the remains of the primeval forests. The latter might possibly still have existed had it not be

PORTUGUESE GARDENS I have often been asked whether the Portuguese have any distinctive form of gardening, and in answer I can only say that, though there is no attempt to compete with the grand terraced gardens of Italy or France, or the prim conventionality of the gardens of the Dutch, still the little well-cared-for garden of the Portuguese has a great charm of its own. Here, in Madeira, their gardens are usually on a very small, almost diminutive, scale, according to our ideas of a garden. In

VILLA GARDENS TO THE WEST OF FUNCHAL The miniature gardens described in the previous chapter, which, as a rule, surround the more humble dwellings of the Portuguese, frequently only cover the small piece of ground at the back of the town house, which is either converted into the backyard and rubbish-heap, decorated with old tins and broken china, or converted into a little paradise of flowers, according to the temperament and taste of its owner. Apart from these are the larger gardens surroundin

VILLA GARDENS TO THE EAST OF FUNCHAL On the east side of the town lie many quintas with good gardens, especially up the very steep Caminho do Monte, or Mount Road, as it is commonly called by the English. The road itself at some seasons of the year is converted into a veritable garden, as its high wall is so clothed with overhanging creepers which have strayed from the gardens behind, that it presents more the aspect of the terrace wall of a flower garden than that of one of the most frequented

VILLA GARDENS TO THE EAST OF FUNCHAL ( continued ) The Quinta do Til is one of the oldest villas in Funchal, and a description of it is to be found in “Rambles in Madeira and Portugal,” published anonymously in the early part of 1826, in which the writer says: “The Til is a villa in the Italian style, and possesses much more architectural pretensions than any I have seen here; but it has never been finished, and what has, bears evident symptoms of neglect. The name comes from a remarkably fine t

THE PALHEIRO About an hour’s ride from the town, at a height of some 1,800 or 2,000 feet, is the Palheiro, formerly known as Palheiro de Ferreiro (Blacksmith’s Hut), the principal country place in the neighbourhood of Funchal, belonging to the same owner as the Quinta Santa Luzia. The road leads past many smaller villas, whose gardens have most of them fallen into decay, and only undergo a hurried process of tidying when their Portuguese owner comes to spend a few weeks away from the summer heat

CAMACHA AND THE MOUNT The road past Palheiro leads, through pine woods and long stretches of yellow broom and golden gorse, to the little mountain village of Camacha. Probably the village has become noted for its flowers from the fact that many English people, in the days when travelling was not so easy, used to make this place their summer-quarters, instead of returning to England, as they mostly do in these days of quick travelling. WISTARIA, QUINTA DA LEVADA One garden I can recall which, tho

A RAMBLE IN THE HIGHER ALTITUDES The Church of Nossa Senhora do Monte is the starting-point of many an expedition made by those who have a wish to see more of the beauties of the island than can be done within the restricted area of Funchal. Should the Metade Valley be the point chosen, or the bleak Pico Ariero, with its enchanting views, or should the traveller be bent on a longer tour, and be proposing to make the little village of Santa Anna his headquarters for seeing the beautiful scenery o

A RAMBLE ALONG THE COAST The vegetation along the seashore is naturally very different to that at a higher altitude. Wherever it has been found possible, the ground has been brought into cultivation, even up to a height of 2,500 feet. Pressed by the ever-increasing population, and the consequent need of more food for more mouths, the country-people are continually bringing into cultivation fresh patches of ground. No minute piece seems to be wasted, and many an odd corner and neglected patch whi

CREEPERS The year opens in Madeira with a wealth of blossom, as in the month of January the bougainvilleas, for which Madeira is so justly famous, will be in all their flaunting beauty. It is true that the lilac-coloured Bougainvillea glabra will have already shed most of its blossoms, as it is a summer-flowering creeper, but it is replaced by so many other varieties that its pale beauty is forgotten. The brick-red coloured Bougainvillea spectabilis —which must have the full force of the sun upo

TREES AND SHRUBS The list of indigenous and naturalized trees and shrubs growing in Madeira is such a long and varied one that it is not surprising that Captain Cook, in his account of his first voyage, should have said: “Nature has been so liberal in her gifts to Madeira. The soil is so rich, and there is such a variety of climate, that there is scarcely any article, either of the necessaries or luxuries of life, which could not be cultivated there.” The place of honour among the island trees m

PAINTED BY ELLA DU CANE DESCRIBED BY FLORENCE DU CANE SQUARE DEMY 8VO., CLOTH, GILT TOP, CONTAINING 50 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR. Price 20 /- net. Post free 20/6. Morning Post. —“Taken as a whole, this ‘gardening’ book is one of the most fascinating that has ever been published, and is worthy of its most fascinating title. Its pictures are all of them beautiful, and admirably reproduced, and the letterpress matches them well.” Guardian. —“Miss Ella Du Cane catches no little of the Japane

PAINTED BY ELLA DU CANE DESCRIBED BY RICHARD BAGOT SQUARE DEMY 8VO., CLOTH, GILT TOP, CONTAINING 69 FULL-PAGE FACSIMILE REPRODUCTIONS IN COLOUR. Price 20 /- net. Post free 20/6. Globe. —“Especially noteworthy for the lightness and delicacy of the artist’s touch, and the felicity of her colouring as appropriate to the scenery it represents. The text is a capable accompaniment, supplying much information of a useful and interesting character.” Standard. —“‘The Italian Lakes’ have, perhaps, never b