THE USE OF GARDENS 



In continuation of the same argument he contends that " the pear- 

 tree and the chequer-tree, the quince, the medlar, and the mulberry 

 are surely entitled by their beauty to a place in the garden. It is 

 only since nature has been taken in hand by the landscapist and 

 taught her proper position that these have been excluded. When 

 there was no talk about nature, and man had not learnt to consider 

 himself as something detached from nature and altogether superior, 

 the fruit tree was counted among the beauties of the garden " ; and 

 he supports this contention by quoting from the "Odyssey" Homer's 

 description of the garden of Alcinous : — " Without the palace, near 

 the doors, was a great garden, four acres by four, and round it on 

 every side was driven a fence. There grew tall trees and beautiful 

 pears and pomegranates, and apple-trees with gleaming fruit, and 

 luscious figs and teeming olive-trees." Further on he makes 

 another quotation, from a modern writer, to prove that there is a 

 similar want of artistic consideration with regard to flowers: — "The 

 dahlia has banished the hollyhock, with its old friend the sunflower, 

 into the cottage garden, where it still flanks the little walk that 

 leads from the wicket to the porch — not the only instance in which 

 our national taste has been redeemed by the cottage against the 

 vulgar pretentions of luxury and wealth." 



That there is much justification for this severe indictment of the 

 methods of some of the present day garden-makers is not to be 

 denied. The idea that a garden must be striking rather than 

 satisfying to the senses, that it must be full of startling features, 

 and that its harmony of design is less important than its aggressive- 

 ness of detail, is not uncommon, and the people who hold this 

 creed are, unfortunately, active enough and numerous enough to 

 constitute an appreciable danger to the progress of a charming 

 art. By seeking after strange effects rather than simple beauty, 

 by using artifices which show perverted ingenuity rather than a 

 sincere desire to make the best possible use of the hints with 

 which nature is so prodigal, the gardener convicts himself of 

 incapacity to enter into the real spirit of his profession and of 

 his unfitness, also, to tackle problems of design which cannot be 

 properly solved without nature's assistance. 



Here again, Mr. Blomfield, whose whole-hearted enthusiasm for 

 his subject is much to be praised, has something to say which is 

 very definitely to the point : — " If there were any truth in his 

 cant about nature would the landscape gardener bed out asters 

 and geraniums, would he make the lawn hideous with patches of 

 brilliant red varied by streaks of purple blue, and add his finishing 



IX 



