vi PREFACE. 



how very much I am indebted to the proprietor of 

 the Quarterly for his great kindness in allowing 

 me the opportunity of this reprint. Should this 

 little book succeed in retaining the friends that 

 A Year in a Lancashire Garden was happy 

 enough to make, it will indeed be fortunate. It 

 has been to me a matter of no little surprise 

 (as, naturally, of pleasure) to find from the 

 generous notices of the Press and from numerous 

 private letters from owners of gardens, to whom 

 I am entirely a stranger, that the views I have 

 expressed as to the necessity of a reform in our 

 gardens are very widely held. So long as a 

 garden is only regarded as a means for dis- 

 playing masses of gay colouring, half the delight 

 and all the real interest of it are gone. It is 

 only when we learn to make friends of individual 

 plants, and recall their history and associations, 

 that a garden becomes a pleasure for the 

 intellect as well as for the senses. But I do 

 not wish to carry my opinions to any extra- 

 vagant length. It is Voltaire, I think, who 

 says that "a man may have preferences but 



