PUBLIC GARDENS 231 



things alone, quite apart from artistic design, mean many 

 arduous hours of thought. 



A further difficulty is the impure air of London. This 

 necessitates all bedding plants being kept the whole 

 winter at Richmond. In April and May, carts heavily 

 laden with boxes of young plants are to be seen arriving 

 in Hyde Park after their long road journey from the 

 suburbs. The same carts wait, and take back plants 

 which have spent some time in London, and are conse- 

 quently in need of change of air. Heliotrope and 

 delphiniums are especially susceptible, the leaves of the 

 former being subject to a horrid blotch, after which they 

 wither and fall off. Even wallflowers are grown at 

 Richmond and brought to London when the time comes 

 to plant them out. 



Some few plants do not mind fogs and an atmosphere 

 laden with smoke, but it is interesting to learn that a differ- 

 ence has been noticed between their health if kept at Ken- 

 sington as compared with Hyde Park, where they show 

 signs of being more exposed to these evils. Liliums, both 

 candidum and auratum, can be kept in pots in London 

 nurseries if plunged in ashes in the shade between 

 the glass-houses. Cannas, too, can be kept under the 

 pipes. 



It is, however, no child's play to garden well in London 

 air, compared with the purer, more sun-warmed air of 

 France. The feeling uppermost in mind, as we come 

 from French ornamental gardens, is one of size and large 

 proportions. There is nothing small or paltry, squat or 

 low. The approach to houses such as Chantilly is on a 

 magnificent scale. All are stately and in keeping with 

 fine architecture. There is indeed much to be learnt 

 from the gardens of Chantilly, and from the Rosery at 

 Bagatelle. The former represents successful achievement 

 of good proportion, without having resource to much 



