126 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



these enclosures for English trees and English shrubs, it 

 would be found that none have been introduced." 



It would be even more charming in a London Park 

 than a suburban garden to plant some of the delights of 

 our English country, such as thorns, crab apples, elder, 

 and wild roses, with horse-chestnuts, and hazel. What can 

 be more beautiful than birches at all times of the year ? 

 That they grow readily, their well-washed white stems 

 in Hyde Park testify. Birds, too, love the native trees, 

 and some of the songsters, which till lately were plentiful 

 in many parks, might return to build if thus encouraged. 



There is much monotony in the laying out of all 

 these parks. The undulating green turf with a wavy 

 line of bushes seems the only recognised form. A narrow 

 strip of herbaceous plants is put between the smutty 

 bushes and well-mown turf, and the official park flower- 

 border is produced. Curving lines of uncertain direction, 

 tortuous paths that carefully avoid the straight line, are 

 all part of the generally received idea of a correct outline. 

 It is always more easy to criticise than to suggest, but 

 surely more variety would be achieved if parks were 

 planted really like wild gardens — the groups of plants 

 more as they might occur in a natural glade or woodland. 

 Then let the herbaceous border be a thing apart — a garden, 

 straight and formal, or curved and round, but not always 

 in bays and promontories jutting into seas of undulating 

 green. A straight line occasionally is a great rest to the 

 eye, but it should begin and end at a definite and tangible 

 point. The small Park in Camberwell has a little avenue 

 of limes running straight across, with a centre where seats 

 can be put and paths diverge at right angles. It is quite 

 small, and yet the Park would be exactly like every other 

 piece of ground, with no particular design, without this. 



