Introduction 



exists as the dead frame to their living pictures. Nor 

 should the frame be so rich and obtrusive that it 

 becomes an obsession at the cost of the picture. This, 

 then, is the true simplicity and therefore beauty of the 

 garden, that the design "has no superfluous parts, 

 and exactly answers its end." There is a "com- 

 pelling reason in the uses of the plant, for every novelty 

 of colour and form, and our art saves material by more 

 skilful arrangement." 



VARIETY IN TASTES AND DESIRES 



So much, then, for the necessity of well-considered 

 design in gardens generally, and in the small garden 

 in particular. But in a world where no two people 

 think exactly alike on all subjects there is bound to be 

 a great variety of tastes in gardening. Indeed, I am 

 not sure that gardening does not offer a greater variety 

 of conceptions of what is desirable than any other 

 analogous subject. You may build houses to set pat- 

 terns and suit many people, but your gardens will never 

 be alike, even though you may use the same design, 

 for, though all enthusiastic gardeners emulate what 

 they consider to be best in their neighbour's garden, 

 they also endeavour to excel in this and other 

 directions. Moreover, it is very rare that even a simple 

 design can be applied with equal success to two sites. 

 Even if it could, one desires roses, and roses therefore 

 become the keynote of the garden scheme. Another 

 prefers Sweet Peas, or spring flowering bulbs, or 

 flowering shrubs, and gardens for them. Yet another 

 chooses to devote considerable space to vegetables or 

 fruit ; whilst of two neighbours, the one delights in 



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