390 THE GARDENER. [Sept. 



Without depreciating in any way the gardens of the old and stately 

 homes of England, or the measure of progress that has characterised 

 their career, there cannot be a doubt that gardening, as it now exists, 

 owes very much of what may be termed the judicious and good to 

 gardens of somewhat modern creation, while they may at the same 

 time be blamed for some features that are glaringly undesirable. 

 Generally speaking, such gardens as are now more particularly referred 

 to reveal a great amount of well-directed energy in the matter of 

 good cultivation. Plenty of good Grapes, good Pines, and other fruits, 

 judiciously selected and well-grown flowering-plants, as well as plant 

 structures of the most substantial character, combined with every 

 modern invention in their construction and working that renders them 

 perfectly fitted for their purpose, are to be met with in such gardens. 

 Beyond all question England's greatness in gardens owes much to such 

 establishments. Some of them take rank in this respect with the 

 very foremost of the gardens of England's ancestral halls and palaces ; 

 and all true lovers of horticulture must wish that their multiplication 

 may go on unchecked, to yield as they do, their inexhaustible fund 

 of interest and recreation to their toiling owners. 



As in connection with progression in everything, there are questions 

 which arise in connection with this widely spreading horticulture. In 

 all this gardening bustle, and something like impatient progression 

 and extension, are there not to be found blemishes, — signs of very 

 questionable taste, or rather absurd violations of what has been recog- 

 nised as good taste, that are often very strikingly apparent, especially 

 in comparatively small grounds? To a certain extent it must be 

 admitted that a proprietor has a right to do with his own whatever 

 he chooses, so long as he does not impair the comfort or pleasure of 

 his neighbours. It must also surely be admitted that this is a very 

 narrow view of the case, and one which strikes entirely at the root of 

 every standard and acknowledged rule in taste and the fitness of 

 things. 



This is opening up a wide field, and one which it might be diflS- 

 cult to wade through. But narrowing the question for the present, we 

 would remark that from our standpoint, and after long observation, it 

 occurs to us that one of the greatest evils by which the more recent 

 gardens are characterised, speaking generally, is sameness, and the 

 utter want in so many cases of recognising and acting on the dis- 

 tinctive natural capabilities of individual sites on which dwelling- 

 houses are built and gardens laid out ; but instead of this, a complete 

 want of harmony between the natural position and the gardens them- 

 selves is produced. This in the first instance, and the complete 

 obliteration of all repose in the grounds, by trying to crowd every 



