CHAPTER VIII 
APOLOGIA PRO BAMBUSIS MEIS 
THERE are some folk who object to the planting of Bamboos 
in English pleasure grounds. They say that such manifestly 
exotic plants give a foreign and unhomelike appearance to 
the garden; that they are out of place, fantastic, and what 
not besides! Are not the Briar Rose, the Holly, the Gorse, 
the Hazel, and many others, far more beautiful than all the 
plants which have been brought from abroad with infinite 
pains and at great cost? No one denies the loveliness of the 
Briar Rose and its companions, but even their charms can be 
shown to greater advantage when set out with other and 
still more brilliant plants, which, though not natives, are at 
any rate willing refugees here. Rubies and diamonds are 
not found in England, yet our English women are no less 
fair for wearing them, and would be sorely troubled if 
sumptuary laws were to be passed restricting them to the 
use of British pearls. Our gardens, like our dames, challenge 
the world for natural beauty. Their ornaments, from time 
immemorial, they have drawn from over the seas. It is 
right that we should take everything that is beautiful 
wherever we may find it; it is certain that we shall. hit 
upon some spot in which it will blend harmoniously with 
(0) 
