56 MY GARDEN 



should walk hand in hand ; and I am very sure they 

 would not weep, if I had the privilege to employ 

 them upon a garden worthy of the name. Besides, 

 you can meander in an acre. I have seen the most 

 horrible tortuosities in half that space. 



It is all very well for Addison to quote Horace 

 and Virgil, and say that art is but the reflection of 

 nature, and that natural things are more grand and 

 august than any we may meet with amid the curiosi- 

 ties of art ; but in the very midst of these platitudes 

 he urges us to help and improve the natural em- 

 broidery of the meadows by small additions of art, 

 and set off rows of hedges with trees and flowers. 

 Landscape-gardening has produced a deal of fine 

 writing, and been the death of the old severe instincts. 

 In this place the result of these views about nature 

 is, that nine gardens out of ten are smothered with 

 trees, and become mere natural factories of leaf- 

 mould and nothing more. The houses are worthy 

 of these gardens. The trees thrust their elbows in 

 at the windows ; then people talk about rheumatism. 

 Give me light and air in a garden even before 

 plants. 



Upon this subject hear Mr. Reginald Blomfield, 

 the world-famous architect, who is responsible for 

 some of the most distinguished modern gardens in 

 the United Kingdom. He is a hard hitter, I promise 

 you, and speaks thus in his " Formal Garden of 

 England " a fascinating book that you ought not 

 to be without. " The formal gardener is by his prin- 

 ciples entitled to do what he likes with nature, but 



