256 Errors in lai/ing out and managing Flotaer-Gardens. 



whose loveliness is enhanced by the ills they have borne, and 

 have thus given them shelter where they had no business to be 

 seen. But perhaps you will think that I. am for discarding them 

 from the flower-garden altogether, as vulgar and unsightly. No 

 such thing : for tlie lilies are said to have surpassed King Solomon 

 in splendour, and even the coarsest weeds have handsome flowers, 

 only they are, I am sorry to say, too plentiful and misplaced for 

 me to admire their presence here at this time. I should place 

 your pretty spring flowers either in clumps devoted to them 

 alone, or grow them in shallow tubs 3 ft. in diameter, in the 

 reserve garden; and, letting them into the turf or soil up to the 

 brims, I should stud the lawn or flower-garden with these hardy 

 natives during the foul weather, whilst their foreign and more 

 delicate brethren are stationed under shelter awaiting milder 

 skies. 



By this, you will see that I should like to give every thing a 

 place to itself, suited to its nature and value. Now, suppose the 

 proprietor of a garden to be a lover of birds (and who is not a lover 

 of them ?), and to request that in some waste corner shepherd's 

 purse, groundsel, and chickweed be allowed to luxuriate, that he 

 may with his own hand cull some every day for his canaries and 

 goldfinches. The order is obeyed, and the mingled mass looks 

 sluggish and detestable. But let them only be placed apart, 

 allowing every one a separate bed (or two for a succession); and 

 let every bed be divided by an alley edged with pebbles, and 

 kept clean by sprinkling a little salt on it; and we have the ap- 

 pearance of system and design, showing that they are useful : 

 and, in this character, weeds though they were, nevertheless, 

 they now become highly satisfactory, though some sage gar- 

 deners may smile at the simplicity of this example of a sys- 

 tematic bird's-meat garden. I will turn their attention to 

 another instance of more serious consequence, I mean the in- 

 troducing of flowering plants into vineries and pineries, which 

 have brought the red spider on the vine leaves, and the white 

 scale on the pine plants, of whose ravages the gardener who is 

 ignorant may be truly thankful. 



But, to return to our arrangement of a first-rate garden, and 

 assign to every class of flowers a compartment suited to their 

 natures, so as they may attain the greatest perfection, and display 

 that perfection to the greatest advantage ; and I am only de- 

 sirous of going with the stream, or rather torrent, of public 

 opinion, that has already uprooted many venerable medleys ; I 

 propose, in a series of sketches, at some future period, to show 

 how this may be done, consistently with all the doctrines which 

 I have advanced. But these sketches, and the directions for car- 

 rying them into execution, I must defer for the present : besides, 

 lam quite aware that engraving them might put you to a greater 



