328 LONDON PARKS & GARDENS 



ment if it really turns red once in a way in October, 

 instead of shrivelling up to an inglorious end ! What 

 grief is felt when the fuchsia, purchased as a fitting 

 centre-piece to the formal geranium bed, loses its buds 

 one by one before they expand ! These and many 

 similar joys and sorrows are the portion of those who 

 tend small gardens in London. How fascinating it is 

 to look into back-gardens as the train passes over 

 viaducts out of the heart of the town. Certainly the 

 differences in their appearance show what skill and 

 devotion can accomplish. Nothing but real love of 

 the plants, and a tender solicitude for their welfare, can 

 induce them to exist in the confined areas and stifling 

 atmosphere of the average London garden. But even 

 these inauspicious surroundings may be brightened by 

 flowers. When those absolutely ignorant of the require- 

 ments of plant life take to gardening in the country, 

 they have Nature at hand to help them. The sunlight, 

 air, and good soil supplement their deficiencies of know- 

 ledge, and, though terribly handicapped by careless 

 planting, unsuitable situations, want of water, and such 

 drawbacks, the plants can struggle with success to main- 

 tain their natural beauty. But let the ignorant try in 

 town to grow plants, where all the conditions militate 

 against them, instead of assisting, and the results are 

 very different. For instance, many a small back-garden, 

 or even window box, is planted year after year with no 

 renewal of the soil. The crumbling mould, which is 

 either caked hard or pours like dust from the hand, is 

 completely exhausted, and the poor plants are starved. 

 They should be given plenty of what in gardeners' 

 slang is called " good stuff," if they are to grow in such 

 adverse conditions. A little of the money expended on 



