AUCHENCRUIVE 



exception now to meet with a lady presiding over a 

 country house who feels indifferent to the contents 

 of her flower-beds. Most ladies, and many men, 

 now take an active interest in cultivating a variety 

 of flowering things. Disraeli had a hand in turning 

 the attention of people of leisure to this source of 

 enjoyment and perennial occupation. Probably no 

 subject of Queen Victoria was more ignorant of 

 the processes of horticulture. Had he been asked 

 the definition of a herbaceous plant he would 

 have found refuge in an epigram. But he had 

 the saving grace of imagination which enabled him 

 to perceive that beds of "Mrs. Pollock" geranium 

 and " Countess of Stair " ageratum were no 

 more capable than a Brussels carpet of inspiring 

 affection. Pereunt et non imputantur. They carry 

 with them no associations are redolent with no 

 tender memories. Therefore, desiring to depict 

 Corisande as devoted to her flowers, Disraeli filled 

 her garden with old-world perennials plants more 

 abiding than the generations of men, yielding 

 blossoms year by year to the children's children 

 of those who set them in the borders. And, when 

 Disraeli had stirred people's fancy with a longing 

 for the old flowers that they could love, Mr. 

 William Robinson began to teach them how that 

 longing might be realised, and he has lived to see 

 the revolution complete. 



There is an end to sameness in gardens, but 

 the risk of tameness is as great as ever. A dominant 



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