224 



THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



of them to divide the two sets of beds. 

 They have not made much growth this 

 season, but they have bloomed abundantly. 

 Geant des Batailles holds his ground well, 

 and gives plenty of his high-coloured 

 blooms. As the roses out of town are not 

 now very attractive, it is not to be expected 

 that in the Temple they would be at their 

 best ; but one plant of that superb tea 

 rose, Gloire de Dijon, had on it a dozen 

 charming blooms, one of them good enough 

 to cut for exhibition. This was the excep- 

 tion ; otherwise it cannot be said that roses 

 are quite at home here, though a poor rose 

 is better than no rose at all, and if it does 

 not canker in the bud, is sure to be worth 

 having. On their own roots and in open 

 beds, we have no doubt some perpetuals 

 would make a feature of sterling value. 

 The varieties which have done best are 

 Madam Laffay, on which we found a few- 

 nice blossoms, and indications that it had 

 bloomed profusely ; Jacques Lafitte, Mrs. 

 Elliott, too shy for such an atmosphere, 

 though it always gives a few blooms ; Wil- 

 liam Jesse, a high-coloured rose of large 

 size, and doing well ; Due d'Aumale, mo- 

 derately good ; Geant des Batailles, fine ; 

 and Gloire de Dijon, the excellence of which 

 would surprise a rose-grower. 



Among the border plants I noticed 

 several good antirrhinums, pldoxes, the 

 showy Epilobium angustifolium, several of 

 the hardy perennial asters, which are most 

 acceptable in London gardens, though too 

 often treated with disdain. Also Lupinus, 

 digitalis, scabious, mimulus, and miguio- 

 nette. In addition to the mischief from 

 smoke, the small gardens of London are 

 generally exhausted below and darkened 

 above by the presence of large trees. There 

 is so much delight to be got out of a tree 

 where little else than bricks and pave- 

 ments are to be seen, that it is better per- 

 haps, that the humbler growths should 

 languish than that any City tree should be 

 cut clown. Here, however, there is plenty 

 of room, and the trees give the garden its 

 proper character as a retreat, and a gap of 

 goodness dropped into the heart of the 

 murky town by the liberal hand of Nature. 

 And real leafy trees they are that adorn 

 the Temple Gardens, with their breadths 

 of green and gold. Though they may 

 shudder, as trees are wont to do, as the 

 gusts come over from the river in minia- 

 ture whirlwinds, they stretch forth their 

 strong arms to heaven, as if imploring sun- 

 shiny blessings on the human crowd that 

 swims around them in the streets and on 

 the stream. If I were doomed to dwell 

 in the City, I woidd have my lodging 



high up, near the sky, and near the Temple 

 Gardens, and would imagine the trees 

 there to join me in singing that sweet hymn 

 of Briant's — 



" Not in the solitude 

 Alone may man commune with Heaven, or see 



Only in savage wood 

 And sunny vale, the present Deity ; 



Or only hear his voice 

 Where the winds whisper and the waves rejoice. 



Even here do I behold 

 Thy steps, Almighty ! here, amidst the crowd 



Through the great City rolled, 

 "With everlasting murmur deep and loud — 



Choking the ways that wind 

 'Mongst the proud piles — the work of human kind 



Thy Spirit is around 

 Quickening the restless mass that sweeps along ; 



And this eternal sound — 

 Voices and footfalls of the numberless throng — 



Like the resounding sea, 

 Or like the rainy tempest, speaks of Thee. 



Near the entrance-gate at the west end 

 of the upper walk is a fine catalpa, which 

 has frequently bloomed, and is evidently in 

 a prosperous condition. The araucarias 

 on the turf are rather brown, but so they 

 are in many other places this season where 

 there is no smoke to adhere to their re- 

 sinous exudations. The plane-trees which 

 have been planted lately are making rapid 

 progress, and promise to become noble 

 trees. Beside the same gateway is an old 

 fig, which Mr. Broome has cut in so as to 

 make it form a flat screen. It grows with 

 all its proj:>er luxuriance. On the western 

 border there is a nice bank of ferns, con- 

 sisting mainly of Lastrea filix mas ; but 

 who would dream of finding here that 

 queen of the filices, Osmunda regalis, with 

 nice fronds of a foot long, and a spike of 

 fructification, and in front of it some 

 pretty aspleniums, and the fresh air-loving 

 Blechnum boreale ? Yet there they are, 

 and mixed with periwinkle and money- 

 wort, and lower down the mulberry proves 

 itself a first-rate town tree by the sinning 

 freshness of its dense and cheerful foliage. 

 At the south-east corner, beside the river, 

 stand some limes, that have, year by year, 

 been pining under the insidious attacks of 

 atmospheric poison, and their last days are 

 near at hand. All who know the Temple 

 Gardens will grieve for the loss of them, 

 for in their decrepitude they have a beauty 

 of their own, and just now their golden 

 livery, prematurely put on, gives at least 

 a hint of Autumn passing her " fiery hand 

 among the leaves." 



I left the Temple Gardens to see the 

 flowers in Hyde Park, and for three hours 

 stumped about on the soddened grass with 

 Father Broome, debating as we went whose 

 feet would be first wet. Happily there 



