140 A BOOK ABOUT THE GABDEN. 



ashamed of themselves ashamed of having sacrificed 

 and slighted so much that is beautiful, from a foolish 

 ambition, which they could never realize, to produce 

 sensational effects, and, like naughty dogs, who 

 deserve but dislike castigation, they will creep 

 through any hole in the fence to keep out of range 

 of the whip. 



I mean, in plainer English, that the system of 

 bedding-out is a grand discovery, a charming orna- 

 mentation and additional grace where it can be appro- 

 priately introduced and amply provided for ; where it 

 can be well done in a suitable site, and where it 

 comes, without trespass or ejection, as an ally and 

 not as an opponent ; but that in a small garden, 

 where it destroys, or even interrupts the natural suc- 

 cession of hardy plants and shrubs, it is a very sad 

 mistake a mistake which, by abusing and misapply- 

 ing a beautiful branch of horticulture, has brought it 

 into disrepute. 



Where shall we find, for example, a more pleasing 

 conformity than in the tasteful bedding-out of those 

 terrace gardens which surround so many of our great 

 castles and mansions, and in which architecture and 

 horticulture are combined in such graceful unison; 

 the stone walls and balustrades, and edgings of the 

 beds, contrasting so effectively with the bright colours 

 of leaf and flower ? and this, moreover, for eight 

 months in the year, from March to October, if the 

 gardener be an artist, with means and with men to 

 realize his art, and to maintain in continuous beauty 

 that bright mosaic basement. 



What, on the other hand, more dreary or wasteful 



