46 



apothegm, " The basis of all landscape-garden- 

 ing is good breadth of grassy lawn," calls for 

 forethought, pains, and unflagging perseverance. 



After the lawn, the flower-border demands 

 our attention. And here, especially, I repeat 

 with emphasis the golden rule of the garden : 

 That is worth doing well what is worth doing 

 at all. Compare the sickly, starveling flowers, 

 struggling for bare existence in beds choked 

 with weeds, and baking in a crust of arid earth, 

 with the luxuriant, well-grown plants which 

 careful culture yields. In the one case, disap- 

 pointment ; in the other, constant increase of 

 beauty. " But I am no gardener, and Primrose 

 employs a professional," is the reason often as- 

 signed ; the important fact being lost sight of, 

 that back of the gardener and all other garden 

 operations lies the fundamental principle of 

 floriculture proper preparation of soil. The 

 parable of the sower has also its application to 

 the garden. 



A rich, friable loam is adapted to the re- 

 quirements of the majority of border-flowers. 

 Where the natural soil is stiff, clayey, or sandy, 

 it is useless to expect satisfactory results, even 

 with the most liberal manuring. Clay soils can 

 only be rendered tractable by the addition of 

 leaf-mold, sandy loam, and decomposed ma- 



