66 THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



like an extecsion of the drawing-room, or a sort of outdoor parlour, 

 something more is wanted than daubs of yellow and red, which, 



'* Like the borealis race, 

 Flit ere you can point their place." 



We want entertainment the whole year round, beauty for the eye, 

 and witli it fragrance, agreeable associations, variety, and something 

 to engan:e and interest the mental faculty. In place of the scrubby 

 evergreens tliat are tolerated — because the bedding, like the Dragon 

 of Wantley, swallows up everything but itself — v.e ought to see in 

 private gardens a considerable variety of the most beautiful shrubs 

 and trees, deciduous and evergreen; the first so various in form and 

 leafage, and many of them so magnificent w^ hen in flower ; the second 

 warm and rich in the depth of winter, making the place look like 

 home, so that a glance from the windows neither chills nor repels, as 

 must be tlie case when a person of any taste looks out upon a dreary 

 parterre that is known tc be of use only in the height of summer, 

 •when mere colour is least wanted, and when, in many cases, the 

 family are away, and see nothing of it. And in the borders in 

 advance of the trees and shrubs we should see mixtures of all kinds, 

 spring flowers in abundance, and in all the deliglitful variety in 

 which they niay be obtained, the gems of the vegetable creation that 

 appeal to the pleasantest memories, and in their subdued and refined 

 colourings seem to be almost musical in their speaking prettiness. 

 And for sumu'er and autumn, and even for winter, the hardy plants 

 ccmprise myriads of fine subjects, some showy enough even for a 

 vulgar taste, but many more beautiful in the true sense of the 

 word, with grace of form and delicate harmonies of tintings, and 

 characters so individual, that every one deserves to have a history, 

 and to have that history told to all admirers. And when winter 

 comes again, the variegated-leaved and berry-bearins: shrubs that are 

 within the reach of English cultivators would suffice to effect an 

 apparent change of climate. It is enough for us to be frozen to- 

 day and roar^ted to-morrow in this wayward, cliangeable, ungenial, 

 unfriendly clime; we need not make our gardens lugubrious to 

 increase the horror ; yet this we do, and only at rare intervals do 

 we meet with examples of what Eugiibh gardens might be in warmth, 

 cheerfulness, richness, and variety, even in the very depth of such 

 winters as make havoc of human lives. Our ten years' repetitioris 

 of such arguments as these may, for all we know, have somewhere 

 produced an eflect by this time ; but whether there be results or 

 not, we shall probably continue, as occasions offer, to direct the 

 attention of our readers to the undeveloped resources of ornamental 

 gardening in this country, and do our best to point out the several 

 subjects that are best fitted to make our gardens worthy of the 

 spirit and the means and intelligence of the English people. 



We begun with remarks for collecting, yet we should hope that 

 very few ot our readers are devoted to the profitless task of indis- 

 criminate gathering together of the members of any family of plants. 

 It is not every member ot the vegetable kingdom that -s adapted 

 for cultivation in gaidens, and amongst the most beautiful and 



