2697 



APPRECIATION 



THE RT. HON. THE EARL OF ROSEBERY, 



If I might parody what I saw was said by an Irish 

 Judge, lately deceased, it is that, " / yield to no one 

 in ignorance of scientific horticulture." lam not sure 

 that this is not one of the cases in which the ignorant 

 have almost the best of it. I admit that, when I walk 

 with an expert through a garden, I feel an ignorance, 

 a humiliation, which is almost abysmal. But I recol- 

 lect, after all, that I may be the happier of the two. 

 The expert knows all the weaknesses and all the short- 

 comings in his garden. A she shows you his hothouses 

 he is stung by the recollection of superior hothouses 

 belonging to a rival ; as he shows you his fruits he 

 remembers other fruits which have defeated him at 

 an horticultural show, and he is ahvays haunted by 

 the recollection of the orchids which he does not possess. 

 On the other hand, the ignoramus walks blandly 

 along enjoying without cavil the simple beauty of 

 the flowers, enjoying what Lord Bacon has so finely 

 called their breath, en joy ing all their per fume and all 

 the variety which a garden can give without question 

 and ivithout afterthought. If he sees a weed which 

 would distress the expert, if he sees groundsel growing 



430 



