168 IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN 



pleteness both must be seen in abundance. And just 

 as Horace thought them necessary in a feast — 



* Neu desint epulis rosae, 

 Neu vivax apium neu breve lilium ' — 



SO in every well-ordered garden there must be Ulia 

 mixta rosis. 



My subject, then, is the lilies and roses of June, and 

 the lilies first — a very hackneyed subject, some will 

 think, and certainly it is, if by that is meant that 

 already much has been written on it, but there is no 

 finality in gardening or in gardening literature. More 

 than two hundred years ago Evelyn laughed at those 

 who gave 'the glorious title of compleat and accom- 

 plished gardeners to what they have published, as if 

 there were nothing wanting or further to be expected 

 from the field, and that Nature had been quite emptied 

 of all her fertile store,' and he prophesied the great 

 increase that must be always looked for in our know- 

 ledge of the products of nature. This is so remarkably 

 the case with lilies, that it is worth while to look back 

 and compare our present abundance of these beautiful 

 flowers with the very scanty supply which called forth 

 the loving admiration of our forefathers. Theophrastus 

 only mentions one lily, and Dioscorides two; Pliny 

 describes three, but it is very doubtful whether they 



