THE COMMON SHRUBBERV. 61 



above the elegant spreading foliage of tlie Myrrh in the shade 

 of the trees, was very beautiful. Note particularly that the 

 front of the slirulibery in which this exquisite scene was 

 discovered was as stiff and liideous as usual in winter — raw 

 earth, full of mutilated roots, and shrubs cut in for the con- 

 venience and according to the taste of the diggers. The beds 

 in tlie botanical arrangement near were ugly beyond description. 

 Longleat is one of the first places in whicli the idea of 

 the wild garden was practically carried out and ably by the 

 forester, Mr. Berry. With such a fine variety of surface and 

 soil, the place naturally offers numerous positions in which 

 the plants of other countries as cold or colder than our own 

 could be naturalised, or so planted that they would increase 

 and take care of themselves in the woods. A forester's duties 

 and opportunities are generally such as make it extremely 

 difficult for him to carry out such an idea. To know the 

 plants even that are likely to succeed is, in itself, a species of 

 knowledge which every planter does not possess ; however, 

 the idea was clearly understood and carried out well, so far 

 as possible in the face of rabbits, which are the great destroyers 

 of almost all flowering ground vegetation. To get the neces- 

 sary quantities of subjects necessitated a little nursery in 

 which a sufficient numl)er could be raised of the more vigorous 

 perennials, bulbs, and climbers. If this new idea in gardening- 

 be carried out on the old dotting principle of the herbaceous 

 border, its great value and its charming effects cannot be 

 realised. To do it rightly we must group and mass as Nature 

 does. Though we may enjoy a single flower or tuft here and 

 there, the true way is natural fringes and masses of plants, 

 one or two species prevailing in a given spot ; in that way we 



