34 The Wild Garden. 



the system in comparatively small villa-gardens, on 

 the fringes of shrubberies, and marginal planta- 

 tions, open spaces between shrubs, the surface of 

 beds of Rhododendrons, etc. In a word, every 

 shrubbery and plantation surface that is so need- 

 lessly and relentlessly dug over by the gardener 

 every winter, may be embellished in the way I 

 propose, as well as wild places. As I have said 

 in " Alpine Flowers," no practice is more general, or 

 more in accordance with ancient custom, than that 

 of digging shrubbery borders, and there is none in 

 the whole course of gardening more profitless or 

 worse. When winter is once come, almost every 

 gardener, although animated with the best inten- 

 tions, simply prepares to make war upon the roots 

 of everything in his shrubbery border. The gene- 

 rally accepted practice is to trim, and often to 

 mutilate the shrubs, and to dig all over the surface 

 that must be full of feeding roots. Delicate half- 

 rooted shrubs are often disturbed ; herbaceous 

 plants, if at all delicate and not easily recognised, 

 are destroyed ; bulbs are often displaced and in- 

 jured ; and a sparse depopulated aspect is given to 

 the margins, while the only "improvement" that is 

 effected by the process is the annual darkening of 

 the surface by the upturned earth. 



