INTRODUCTION xxxiii 



to some of our finest flowers while every one is exult- 

 ing over the improvement worked upon them. At 

 present the florists seem to be working upon no sys- 

 tem, because there is no general standard of taste to 

 impose a system upon them. They believe that every 

 increase in the size of a flower, every change in its 

 colour, is an improvement; and they are often con- 

 firmed in this belief by the awards of flower shows, 

 which, in the provinces at least, are still inclined to 

 favour flowers as little like nature as they can be. 

 Flower shows, indeed, have not had a good effect upon 

 the development of plants, however much they may 

 have improved their culture, since their tendency 

 has been to encourage gardeners to grow plants for 

 their flowers alone. Now a plant intended to be an 

 ornament to a garden ought to be considered as a 

 whole. Its flowers are only a part of its beauty, and 

 it should also have a beauty of leafage, of habit, and 

 of proportion. The flowers of wild plants are often 

 too small, at least to the gardener's taste, in propor- 

 tion to their leafage and stature; but the flowers of 

 garden plants may easily be too large; and in some 

 cases the florists have already made them so. The 

 modern Begonia, particularly the double Begonia, 

 is an instance in point. The flowers are so enormous 

 that all proportion is lost between them and the plant 

 itself. It seems to be overburdened with them like 

 a woman laden with heavy jewelry. There are other 

 plants of a habit less prostrate by nature which bear 

 the weight of huge flowers still more awkwardly. 



