256 STUDIES IN GARDENING 



dividual blossom they must always see the type, with 

 all that it implies to them, not merely of beauty, but 

 of virtues which seem to them beautiful, and which 

 they try to produce as naturally and inevitably as a 

 plant bears its flowers. Even if we know nothing of 

 their life and language, we can tell from their art how 

 intimately flowers must be connected with their lives; 

 for in that art flowers are almost as prominent as the 

 human form in the art of the Greeks. And just as, 

 in Greek art, the human form is simplified into types 

 without loss of character, so in Japanese art flowers 

 are simplified into types without loss, indeed rather 

 with emphasis, of character. This kind of simplifica- 

 tion cannot be achieved without a great knowledge 

 and love of the object simplified. Nor can it be achieved 

 by an individual, but only by a succession of artists 

 working for a public very familiar with the subject 

 matter of their art. It means that artists and public 

 alike have mental images of their subject matter com- 

 posed of all those qualities in it which have most 

 significance for them and continually strengthened 

 and enriched by a disinterested study of nature. 



One has only to compare the illustrations in an 

 English and Japanese flower catalogue to see how 

 strong are the Japanese mental images of flowers, 

 and how weak are the English. The English illus- 

 trations, whether from drawings or from photographs, 

 are representations of individual flowers and nothing 

 more. The Japanese, though they have just as much 

 individuality and far more character, insist upon the 



