FLOWERING AND ORXAMEXTAL PLANTS. 209 



membcred tliat the sphere of such a style of ornamenta- 

 tion is in the line of what has elsewhere been termed 

 minor embellishments, hence it follows, that the use of 

 striking and fanciful compositions like these must be 

 limited accordingly. If nature shows many fanciful 

 forms, and varied colors in her attractive flowers, she 

 also teaches by example, that those in order to be most 

 beautiful need an appropriate setting, hence we find 

 every flower usually borne above or brought in close 

 conjunction with masses of foliage, which give it needed 

 relief. So too, diamonds and rich ribbons in dress, are 

 only used with their full power for conveying pleasure 

 to the eye, when they find an appropriate setting in con- 

 nection with something that possesses less capacity for 

 ornamentation. 



Mr. DeVry's great success in using flowers and plants 

 in the Chicago Park, lies largely in the fact, that al- 

 though a multitude of beds are filled, they are so seated 

 on ample areas of lawn, and these skirted by trees, that 

 notwithstanding their abundance, they seem only to 

 richly embellish the parts where they are introduced. In 

 marked contrast with his success, is a conspicuous flower 

 garden annually made in the \Yest End Park of Glasgow, 

 Scotland. Here is a garden of flowers instead of a gar- 

 den (or a part of it) embellished with flowers. The ar- 

 rangement consists of a circular plat, one hundred and 

 thirty feet across, bounded by a gravel walk, and divided 

 by others into about fifty different sized flower beds, 

 which are closely planted, and there is little or noth- 

 ing else besides. The entire absence of grass and other 

 features that deserve to be termed major features of 

 adornment, the numerous walks and the sameness that 

 exists in the form of the beds, all serve to produce a very 

 weak effect, Avith a great abundance of very excellent 

 plant material. 



In a public garden near New York, I met recently a 



