302 A HISTORY OF GARDENING IN ENGLAND. 



wealthy but less skilful neighbours. In coldest winter, it is 

 wonderful to see the bright masses of flowers in their cottage 

 windows. Even in the towns the poor man tries to have some 

 plants to " serve him with a hint that nature lives." 



" Mark the dim windows ye shall pass 

 And see the petted myrtle here ; 

 While there upraised in tinted glass, 

 The curling hyacinths appear. 



The gay geranium in its pride, 

 Looks out to kiss the scanty gleam ; 

 And rosebud nurslings by its side, 

 Are gently brought to share the beam. 



Hands with their daily bread to gain 

 May oft be seen at twilight hour, 

 Decking their dingy garret pane 

 With wreathing stem or sickly flower." 



ELIZA COOK. 



The Italian style of design, which was the prevailing one 

 by the middle of this century, was easily adapted to suit the 

 new florist flowers which were then rapidly increasing. The 

 fashion of what is known as " bedding out/' came in, and 

 old-fashioned plants, which had been the pride of our gardens 

 for centuries, were banished to make room for these new- 

 comers. In an Essay on Landscape Gardening by Morris, 

 in 1825,* ne advocates this plan, which was then quite a new 

 one. " The beauty of the flower-garden, in the summer 

 season," he writes, " may be heightened by planting in beds 

 some of the most freely-flowering young and healthy green- 

 house plants. Where there is an extent of greenhouse, a 

 sufficient quantity of plants should be grown annually for this 

 purpose, and should be sunk in the beds about the middle 

 or end of May. The following are among the most beautiful 

 of this species : Anagallis grandiflora, Anagallis Monelli, 

 Heliotropium grandiflorum, Fuchsia coccinea, Lobelia Erinus 

 and unidentata, Hemimeris urticifolia, Alstroemeria peregrina, 

 Bouvardia triphylla, Geraniums of sorts, Lychnis coronaria, 

 Linum trigynum." These are what Morris suggests, but other 



* Essay on Landscape Gardening. By Richard Morris, 1825. 



