GARDENS AND GARDEN DESIGNERS n 



no rule-of-thumb method for either ; each is worthy of 

 just as much love and care as might be bestowed were 

 it the only garden in the world. Sedding says, " A 

 garden is man's report of Earth at her best," which, 

 whatever else it may imply, surely suggests that our 

 best work, and our noblest conceptions of the beautiful, 

 must be pressed into service if we are to effect any real 

 improvement. Set styles, and the whims and caprices of 

 the individual, live but a short time ; they are here 

 to-day, but to-morrow their very name is forgotten. 

 The next generation will probably eye with disfavour 

 much of the garden work which is now regarded with 

 so much satisfaction. But there can be no reproaches 

 for the man who has worked honestly, endeavoured to 

 penetrate the hidden ways of Nature, and trusted in his 

 own common-sense and reason to point out the best 

 course. The love of flowers and trees for their own 

 sake, and not because it is fashionable, is the same in 

 every age, and that form of garden design only is right 

 which is founded first and foremost on the study of 

 Nature and Nature's laws. 



