XIXETKEXTH CEXTURV. 299 



from devoting all the glass to nurture up geraniums to fill the 

 whole garden. Bacon's aim was to have Rowers in the garden 

 during every month of the year, and in his essay he mentions 

 some for each successive season. Surely after a lapse of three 

 centuries we ought to be able to attain that object and arrange 

 that no month should be without its brightening flowers. 



" The daughters of the year 



One after one through that still garden passed, 

 Danced into light and died into the shade." 



Among the many plants which have been introduced 

 of late years the class of Alpines has been very largely 

 represented. We now possess an immense variety of plants 

 whose natural place of growth is on rocks, or between the 

 crevices of stones. It is only reasonable to try and give these 

 plants, as nearly as possible, the same conditions of life here in 

 England as on their native hills. The result of this has been 

 the formation of several rock gardens, very different from the 

 old-fashioned pile of stones which went by the name of a rockery. 

 These new rock gardens are in every w^ay successful, as rare 

 Alpines, which it was thought almost impossible to grow in this 

 country, are now made to thrive. The illustration of a typical 

 rock garden is a part of the very large one at Batsford 

 (Gloucestershire), made by Mr. Mitford within the last few 

 years. The one at Kew is a well-known example. Every year 

 there are new things of interest there. It is wonderful to see 

 plants from nearly all the mountain ranges of the world perfectly 

 at home wdthin a few miles of the City of London. 



Another development of gardening during the last few years 

 has been sub-tropical gardening. Mr. Robinson has kindly 

 pointed out to me that this kind of gardening, w^hich came 

 to us from Paris some twenty years ago, did something to 

 relieve the formality of " bedding-out/' although not nearly 

 as important an improvement as the newer movement 

 towards hardy flowers. Groups of Cannas, Caladiums, and 

 such like, in beds, help to render them less stiff. There 

 can also be obtained fine results from planting out the 

 hardier kinds of tree ferns and palms during the summer 

 months. But the best kind of sub-tropical garden is the 



