64 GARDENING BY MYSELF. 



And now what shall I say about the old- 

 fashioned garden ? — much talked against, 

 much laughed at, by most people who have 

 "■ facilities." Yet for those who have not, it 

 after all often the best ; needinsf less time, 

 less skill, less knowledge of form and colour ; 

 and giving results that are sweet at least, if 

 they are not wonderful. Few directions are 

 called for here. Fair, rich confusion is all the 

 aim of an old-fashioned flower garden, and 

 the greater the confusion, the richer. You 

 want to come upon mignonnette in unexpect- 

 ed places, and to find sprays of heliotrope 

 in close consultation with your roses, and 

 geraniums sporting their uniforms like gay 

 recruits off duty. Sweet peas bow to phlox- 

 es here, and the gladiolus straightens itself 

 with harmless pride among its more pliant 

 companions, and the little white sweet alys- 

 sum goes visiting all the day. There is the 

 most exquisite propriety and good fellow- 

 ship, with an utter absence of ''deport- 

 ment ;" and the perennials that pass out of 

 flower are kindly hid and merged by their 



