168 COME INTO THE GARDEN 



However that may be, though, there is not the 

 slightest chance of shrubs planted in this close 

 company not doing exactly what they should 

 in the matter of growth; of their not becoming 

 just the shape which best suits their position 

 and the artist-gardener's general pu'-pose; and 

 not showing to the fullest degree desirable and 

 conformable with the scheme. Indeed, close 

 company with its consequent mutual protection, 

 is more in accord with Nature's scheme of things 

 always than scattered planting. 



In this connection it may be said that al- 

 though the exigencies of the small place demand 

 a great deal of restraint in the handling of the 

 garden material, shrubbery is the one thing 

 which simply cannot be subjected to formal 

 treatment with satisfactory results, but must be 

 used as Nature uses it. Certain shrubs lend 

 themselves readily enough to the carrying out 

 of more or less formal lines, to be sure; but 

 shrubbery collectively, being in its very nature 

 broadly pictorial, must be picturesquely dis- 

 posed. The aim should always be to produce 

 with it a mass — an impenetrable thicket of in- 

 terlacing boughs; and as a matter of fact shrub- 

 bery rightly massed will be almost as effectual 

 a screen in winter, with its branches bare, as in 

 summer when they are in full leaf. Forget that 



