INTRODVCTION 



Till-. gardens illustrated in the following pages are the 

 typos and exemplars of every class ot English 

 gardena>.e. though it may he observed th it the formal 

 character is chiefly exemplified in them, because, 

 indeed, in various developments it largely prevails, 

 disclose a view of much that the greatest workers 

 in our garden development have accomplished most of 

 them inspired to their task by traditional methods and tin- 

 inherited love for the things that are old. a few influenced 

 by later views, which greatly affected the character of 

 garden plan and design, all glorying in the supreme beauty 

 of the multitudes of flowers now in cultivation, and some 

 kindled to their achievement by the enthusiasm of individual 

 taste. In these da\ s the lov e of gardening and interest in its 

 history and character grow from more to more, and we cannot 

 live anywhere without finding intelligent understanding and 

 appreciation of the many various forms ot garden beauty. 

 The great gardens of England are t.ike.i as patterns in 

 other lands, and among ourselves .ire regarded as sources of 



inspiration in any garden plan. No! e\ery man i.in have .1 

 pleasaunce to his mind, but there ate few who, in the glorious 

 example^ of our gardena;:e, cannot find some feature or 

 Miggestion tor their need. I lie colitlu t ot ideas whii.ll has 

 arisen in regard to the higher cliara. ter of garden de-i-n. 

 giving rise to .1 Considerable volume of polemical literature, 

 is ii itseli an encouraging sign, because it shows how real 

 is the interest felt in the garden and how /e.ilous the quest for 

 knowledge of its right character and its many beauties. 



The controversy is not new, for did not Maitial, in the 

 garden of l.ucullus. express his preference for the untamed 



beauties..) Nature .>\er the results of the . ust m which then 

 prevailed of placing tonsile b.x trees amid the groves of myrtles 

 and planes? The more modern controversy shows how tar 

 we are from the days in which to most people the garden was 

 merely a place wherein Mowers and bushes indiscriminately 

 grew. 'I here has sprung up a craving for order and pla.i, 

 and a demand that the garden shall st.md in nuuh closer 

 relation to the house it adorns than was at one time thought 



GUARDIANS OF AN OLD GAkDbN MAlkWAY. 



