THE NEW ART OF GARDEN-MAKING 23 



is not the blending of the colours, but the provision of 

 healthy plants and the means for growing them well. 

 Without this there will be no true colour. The reader will 

 hardly need to be reminded of the many instances in 

 which colour-grouping is a failure, but he may need to 

 have his attention directed to the true cause of the catas- 

 trophe, which is often overlooked. 



There is a need for expression in the human soul which 

 often finds no outlet. The few have a sufficient command 

 over pen or palette to be able to discharge themselves in 

 the writing of a book or the painting of a picture, but the 

 many, lacking this power, are thrown back upon them- 

 selves, to brood, to mourn, almost to despair. I believe 

 that in future thousands who in the past have suffered 

 from vague discontent and unhappiness will find full 

 expression and expansion in gardening ; and I have the 

 sure conviction that if they will only learn that the first 

 essential is sound plantsmanship they will make beautiful 

 gardens with very little help from design. 



There are, however, certain points in garden-making 

 which have no connection with culture and yet are 

 worthy of consideration. 



Given a rectangular house, I should be disposed to lean 

 to formalism in its vicinity. I have before me a photo- 

 graph of a moderately large house, of oblong form, the 

 front built on large columns. Curving beds and her- 

 baceous borders come up to the windows and block the 

 view, and an inscription below the photograph tells me, 

 with serene complacency, that Nature has been brought 

 to the very portals of the dwelling. The truth is that 

 Nature has been shut out. One has a feeling of suffocation. 

 One sighs for a shower of sulphuric acid on these imprison- 

 ing borders, and the sight of an honest line of " Gera- 

 niums " in the distance. There should have been a rect- 



