048 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



ing to tlie natural system. Then we can compare the leaf and wood with 

 those of other oaks described in the catalogues or plates, and tell just what 

 kind of oak it is. Every such search will teach us a great deal, and if we 

 have a good botanist at hand great is the gain. A plain farmer who has 

 learned the trees and shrubs by heart is an admirable colleague to the 

 botanist, and may tell us at once what a plant is before the scholar can 

 study it out, and may rid us of avast deal of trouble by teaching us by its 

 common name where to look for our full scientific description. I am half 

 ashamed to say that in our own little domain there are still many wild 

 plants that I cannot call by name, nor identify with any of the descriptions 

 and plates in my books. Very likely that solid farmer or his buxom wife 

 or pretty daughter, whom we sometimes pass on their way to the village, 

 might wholly dispel our darkness by a word as familiar as any in the 

 kitchen and herb garden to the rural population. 



We know very well that the knowledge which is generally sought from 

 the garden is not of the scientific kind, and gardening is a very different 

 thing from "botanizing. It is not safe, of course, to base our cultivation 

 upon learned classifications ; and he would be a funny horticulturist who 

 should portion off his grounds after the system either of Linnaeus or Jussieu, 

 and insist on keeping by themselves all plants not found in the same 

 botanic classes. This rule would compel us to keep the cucumber and 

 pumpkin aw£^y from the corn, and forbid the rose to show its lovely head 

 near the green turf which best sets off its beauty, or to mate with the |ily 

 that so completes its charm. We must bring economy and taste as well 

 as science to bear upon our garden before we combine all desirable variety 

 with unity, and integrate the differences of our vegetation by a judicious 

 singleness of aim. In this way we reach the practical economy of garden- 

 ing, and are able to bring our science into the service of our art. The true 

 economy must of course have in view both utility and beauty, for there 

 can be no good garden without both elements ; since the potato-patch and 

 currant and raspberry bushes are none the less profitable by being neatly 

 and even prettily arranged, and the winding paths through fresh lawns or 

 under shady trees are full of healthful influence, strengthening the limbs 

 by inviting exercise, and cheering the spirits by .various aspects of loveli- 

 ness. 



As to the complete idea of the garden, the estimate must differ as our 

 point of view or aim differs. If we were writing for a prince with ready 

 millions at command, we might perhaps take Lord Bacon's estimate, and 

 say that thirty acres are not too much for a prince-like garden, without 

 including the forest park or farm. It is easy to see how his plan might be 

 adapted to modern taste, and made quite charming, by doing away his 

 absurd Dutch squares, and set circles, and cumbrous carpentry. If laid 

 out literally by his plan, his thirty acres would become a magnificent baby- 

 house, and confirm his own remark, "that when ages grew to civility and 

 elegancy, men come to build stately rather than to garden finely, as if 

 gardening were the greater perfection." His four acres of green in the 

 entrance, with two long walks in covered alleys on either side, would be a 

 dismal affair without trees or shrubs to cheer the eye and relieve the loiterer 

 from the necessity of hiding under the covering of carpenter's work, twelve 



