166 STUDIES IN GARDENING 



has failed in the chief problem of his craft. They do 

 not matter so much in a very large garden, where you 

 can have a series of displays for different seasons of 

 the year; but in a small one, where they cannot be 

 ignored, they matter a great deal. In a small garden 

 the problem of annuals may well seem insoluble, and, 

 indeed, it is insoluble if they are grown in the ordinary 

 way. The great mistake which most people make 

 with annuals is that they treat them too seriously, 

 as seriously as Roses or Carnations, or any of the main 

 and permanent ornaments of a garden. There has 

 lately appeared an excellent book upon the culture 

 of annuals; indeed, one of the best gardening books 

 of our time. 1 The author of it, Mr. C. M. A. Peake, 

 has obviously a great knowledge of his subject, which 

 he imparts very clearly and concisely. There is no 

 fault whatever to be found with his book except that 

 he takes annuals too seriously. True, in his preface 

 he says that the main use of annuals, at least of hardy 

 annuals, is to fill a garden quickly with bloom, where 

 for some reason or other the gardener cannot wait 

 for the slower glories of perennials; and in such a 

 case, no doubt, it is right to take annuals very seriously. 

 But there are some annuals that one cannot do without 

 even in permanent gardens, and yet few can give 

 them either the space or the labour which would 

 be necessary on Mr. Peake's system of cultivation. 

 He advises that a bed be prepared by deep digging 



1 '* A Concise Handbook of Garden Annual and Biennial Plants." By 

 C. M. A. Peake. 



