vi PREFACE. 



woods — a world of delightful plant beauty that we might in 

 this way make happy around us, in places now weedy, or half 

 bare, or useless. I saw that we could not only grow thus a 

 tliousandf()ld more lovely flowers than are commonly seen in 

 i what is called the flower garden, Ijut also a number which, 

 by any other plan, have no chance whatever of being seen 

 around us. This is a system which will give us more 

 . beauty than ever was dreamt of in gardens, without interfc^r- 

 ing with formal gardening in any way. 



In this illustrated edition, by the aid of careful drawings, 

 I have endeavoured to suggest in what the system consists ; 

 but if I were to write a book for every page that this contains, 

 I could not hope to suggest the many beautiful aspects of 

 vegetation which the wild garden will enable us to enjoy at 

 our doors. 



Tlie illustrations are, with a few slight exceptions, the 

 work of Mr. Alfred Parsons, and the drawing and engraving 

 have been several years in execution. They are after 

 nature, in places where the ideas expressed in the first small 

 edition of the book had been carried out, or where accident, 

 as in the case of the beautiful group of Myrrh and white 

 Harebells, had given rise to the combinations or aspects of 

 vegetation sought. I cannot too heartily acknowledge the 

 skill and pains which Mr. Parsons devoted to the drawings, 

 and to the success which he has attained in illustrating the 

 motive of the book, and such good effects as have already 

 been obtained where the idea has been intelligently carried out. 



