THE FLORAL WORLD 



AND 



GAEDEN GUIDE. 



APRIL, 1867. 



THE AECANUM OF PERPETUAL BEAUTY. 



"HERE has been enough said in these pages upon the 

 shortcomings of the prevailing system of embellishino- 

 gardens, and we may turn from the negative to the 

 positive in hope of some advantage to our readers. We 

 propose, then, to unfold to them a plan for the perfect 

 abolition of tameness and sameness, for making an end of monotony 

 and wearisomeuess, for the termination of the floral see-saw, the 

 feast and fast system by which we make sure of flowers during 

 June, July, and August, and of a beggarly account of empty beds 

 during the remaining months of the year. We are to propound the 

 Arcanum — the secret, the mystery — which is to be no mystery by the 

 time we have done wHth it ; and it is all to be made so plain and 

 pleasant, that from this month of April, 18G7, garden grumblers are 

 to cease from off the earth, disappointments are to be known no 

 more, and the reign of concord and flowery bliss is to set in with 

 such severity as to overcome all obstacles. You are now expecting 

 something new, yet Solomon has averred that there is nothing new 

 under the sun. What I shall say this time will be an old tale to 

 some readers, but quite a new one to a large number, for the new- 

 series of the Eloral AVorld has added some thousands to the 

 circle amongst which it moves so modestly and with such general 

 approbation. I must, therefore, beg those who are already in the 

 secret to read this as though they had read nothing else on the 

 subject before ; and as for our thousands of new readers, I have no 

 doubt the whole story will be new to them ; and I finish this preface 

 by expressing a hope that they may derive from it something 

 useful. 



The arcanum to be expounded is the PLUNGixa System. It 

 cannot be my invention, because plunging in some sort of way was 

 done before I was born. But I alone, perhaps, of all practical and 

 experimental cultivators, have developed the plunging system; it is 

 with me a matter partly of choice, partly of necessity, but alto- 

 gether essential to my routine and range of practice, and a source 

 of perpetual delight. All that I do is on a small scale. People 



YOL. II. — NO. IV. 7 



