2o 4 MY LIFE 



in succession, and the lovely jalap plant, ExogOftium purga, 

 grew most luxuriantly over a low trellis at the back of the 

 same bed. Here, too, I had the magnificent Ercmurus robustus 

 on a raised bank, with Lconotis Iconurns, and many other 

 tender shrubs in the borders. I received contributions of 

 uncommon plants from many friends, and ransacked all the 

 nurserymen's catalogues for rarities and curiosities, and I 

 find that I attempted the cultivation in this garden, or in a very 

 small greenhouse and verandah, about fifteen hundred species 

 of plants, some of which, of course, never reached flowering 

 size, others survived only a few years ; but the delight of 

 watching the growth of these, to me, new forms of vegetable 

 life, and seeing them flower even once or twice, was so great 

 that no trouble was spared to obtain it. 



My gardening has always been to me pure enjoyment. I 

 have never made any experiments with my plants, never at- 

 tempted to study their minute structure or to write about 

 them ; the mere seeing them grow, noting the infinite diversi- 

 ties of their forms and habits, their likes and dislikes, all made 

 the more interesting by the researches of Darwin, Kerner, H. 

 Muller, Grant Allen, Lubbock and others, on the uses of each 

 infinitely varied detail of stem and leaf, of bract and flower — 

 all this was to me a delight in itself, and gave me that general 

 knowledge of the outward forms and inward peculiarities of 

 plants, and of the exquisite beauty and almost infinite variety 

 of the vegetable kingdom, which enabled me better to appreci- 

 ate the marvel and mystery of plant life, whether in itself or in 

 its complex relations to the higher attributes of man. 



When I came to Parkstone (in June, 1889) I had a smaller 

 garden, but one which I thought would prove better adapted 

 to a variety of species which I had not hitherto succeeded 

 with. I thought my peat-bank facing the south-west might 

 grow some of the beautiful Cape heaths which I had always 

 so greatly admired, so I obtained in the spring of 1890 a dozen 

 choice species, as well as a considerable number of Sikhim 

 rhododendrons (seedlings and young plants) from different 

 dealers. But although I protected them with fern, ashes, etc., 



