332 PEACTICAL GAEDENING. 



proof that they were not so is foimd in tlie decision of the 

 public, for tliat many-headed gentleman is never wrong long 

 together, and if a plant be good it is never lost sight of. A 

 really beautiful subject never fails to become popular. 



SPECBIEN" pla:n'ts. 



The perfection of gardening is to produce plants grown in 

 the way best calculated to set off their natural beauties ; and 

 perhaps there is nothing upon which the gardener is more 

 likely to fall into error than in the form of his specimens. 

 We are justified in this opinion by the unnatural way in 

 which plants are shown at the exhibitions. Man is an 

 imitative animal ; and, because one shows a great mass of 

 bloom, and is lucky enough to obtain the distinction of a 

 prize, which, it is universally admitted, is too frequently 

 awarded to novelty, aU. the others follow in his wake, and try 

 to outdo him in that feature which in their eyes obtained him 

 the prize. But we do hope the thirst for artificially grown 

 plants is passing away ; that there may be some grace and 

 elegance studied where mechanism now reigns, and that, in- 

 stead of the formality and stiffness which characterize our 

 public shows, we may see an approach to nature. Thus, 

 instead of having climbing plants covering a balloon-shaped 

 wire-work, or a flat shield, or a formal pyramid, or a cone, we 

 may see them trained on something like the skeleton of a tree. 

 It is quite certain that a branch of a tree, trimmed into the 

 form of a good shrub, makes the most elegant and eff'ective 

 trellis, if it must be called so, for the support of a cHmbing 

 plant ; and, if wire- work is to take the place of this, let it be 

 in some such form. We have often expressed our disgust at 

 the manner in which geraniums are exhibited ; they are 

 drawn so that they cannot even support their own flowers, 

 every stem is tied to a stick, and sticks are put in all over 

 the pot pointed outwards to spread the flowers mechanically 

 over a head that looks artificial, and to the utter destruction 

 of every appearance of a plant. We see nothing so like it as 

 artificial fiowers stuck all over a large cushion to show them 

 off for sale. We see roses shown in pots with stakes standing 

 on a slope all round like the wires of an lunbrella, and the 

 plants tortured to show their fiowers at particular distances ; 

 plants drawn so that they could not sustain the weight of 



