142 IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN 



garden will be no more than a copy of his neighbour's ; 

 but if he is bold enough to try experiments ■with his 

 plants he will often meet with quite unexpected success, 

 and a success which may be a real gain to others. I 

 have always been fond of trying in the open ground 

 plants which I have been told would only grow in the 

 greenhouse, and I have been rewarded with many 

 pleasant surprises, pleasant to others as well as myself. 

 But, without speaking of myself, the great, almost 

 national, advantage of boldness in making experiments 

 with plants in fresh places is shown by the well-known 

 examples of the tea, which in our own time was con- 

 fined to China, but is now well grown in India and 

 Ceylon ; the cinchona, which so long was only to 

 be found in Brazil forests, but now forms a staple 

 article of commerce in India ; the currants of commerce, 

 which were always supposed to require the narrow 

 Greek zone in which alone they could be grown with- 

 out stones, but Avhich are now grown successfully in 

 Florida and California; where also is now grown the 

 French plum, which only in the Garonne Valley could 

 be made to produce the abundant juices that are so 

 prized, contained in the thin but tough skin which 

 enables the fruit to stand the high temperature of the 

 kilns in which they are preserved. But such boldness 

 is of little use without much patience and perseverance, 



