XXVI INTRODUCTION. 



introduction of the mixed style to such an extent as the 

 circumstances may suggest. Cases of this kind are very 

 numerous. Indeed it may safely be assumed of the 

 majority of the gardens in this country, that the extent 

 of "bedding-out" carried on in them is done under diffi- 

 culty more or less, and to some extent in many cases to 

 the prejudice or loss of other departments. The reason 

 in most instances is, that the practice of the fashionable 

 style of massing has greatly exceeded the elasticity of 

 the resources and appliances allowed in the shape of 

 glass accommodation and labour. It is obvious, there- 

 fore, that a resort to the mixed system, which may be 

 carried on very effectively with hardy subjects, perennials 

 and annuals combined, would be an advantage to the 

 owner, and no less so to the gardener. Possibly the 

 much more numerous class of smaller gardens, whether 

 about town or country, in which there are little or no ap- 

 pliances and means for producing the annual supplies of 

 bedding plants, would benefit most by the adoption of 

 the mixed style of planting. In these, adequate selec- 

 tions of hardy perennials are generally as rare as in those 

 that are better provided with the requisite resources for 

 " bedding-out," and they are consequently dependent for 

 their supplies on the nurseryman or their more favoured 

 neighbours, according to circumstances, and the result 

 is, as can only be expected, unsatisfactory at all points. 

 The mixed border, or the principle of it in either beds or 

 borders with a broad groundwork of hardy herbaceous 

 plants, selected with a view to general effect throughout 

 the year, among which might be worked in such annuals 

 and bedding plants as may be available or desirable, 

 would enhance the enjoyments of the possessors of such 



