THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN aUIDE. 301 



to the best advantage. Long experience in the midst of every kind 

 of floral display has made me very indiflerent to gorgeous effects of 

 the true bedding school. They are too much like fireworks, and it 

 would be better, I think, if they were as evanescent, for it is very 

 wearisome to see for months together the same great patches and 

 belts and mixtures of dazzling colours, composed of a few varieties 

 of plants that have really no grace or interest at all to recommend 

 them. But I have been cautioned to give my knowledge freely, and 

 not to obtrude my opinions, because tastes differ, and every pos- 

 sessor of a garden has the right to order his or her enjoyments at 

 discretion, to which canon I cheerfully subscribe. 



For a good collection, then, I should prefer an irregular garden, 

 with patches of green turf, clumps of trees and shrubs, broad and 

 narrow borders, isolated patches, a few mounds rising to belts of 

 shrubs, so as not to look like mere heaps of dirt, and one or two 

 large beds, on which to make a special display of plants notable for 

 beauty, yet so different to things commonly iised for display, as to 

 be at once novel, peculiar, and interesting. Eespecting such things 

 I shall have some special remarks. 



As to the arrangement of the plants, that, like the disposition of 

 the ground, must be matter of taste. There is, in fact, only one 

 serious remark to be made upon this subject, and it is this, that at 

 the time of planting the planter must know what height the several 

 subjects will grow to, or some little things will be lost, and some 

 large things will be made obtrusive and inelegant. When Tritoma 

 uvaria is seen at some distance, and its fiery flowers glowing like a 

 burning torch (" torch-lily" is a good name for it) against a back- 

 ground of shrubs, its appearance is stately and magnificent ; but 

 when leaning forward in the front of a narrow border, it is far less 

 beautiful, and gives one an uncomfortable idea of the danger of being 

 burnt in passing it. JSTot much can be done to contrast colours in 

 these collections, because plants in the same row, of different 

 colours, will for the most part bloom at different seasons. How- 

 ever, as a large proportion of these plants bloom in June and July, 

 it is well to arrange them so that they contribute to each other's 

 beauty. The scarlet lychnis shows well beside a clump of Lysimachia 

 thyrsiflora ; blue and white aconites help each other ; the gorgeous 

 pseonies show to great advantage in clumps unmixed with other 

 flowers, or in the fronts of borders which have backgrounds of shrubs 

 or ivy. To regulate all these matters is impossible, and, fortunately, 

 not desirable, as it is the employment of the mind in iuveutiug and 

 arranging that ladies and gentlemen desire, quite as much as the 

 gratification of the eye by various displays of colour. 



Next to the foregoing considerations the most important is the 

 protection of the plants from vermin. This subject may appear to 

 belong to the after details of individual cultivation, but in reality it 

 must be thought of now, and for this reason, that herbaceous plants 

 may be planted in positions where it is impossible to protect them 

 from the ravages of vermin, and in such a case the labour and money 

 are lost, and a most interesting- subject is brought into disrepute. 

 Let me cite an example. An amateur holding a pretty garden whicli 



