The Garden of British Wild Flowers. i6i 



So far as I am acquainted with the labours of 

 British botanists or horticulturists, none of them 

 have ever attempted a selection from our wild flowers 



as adapted for garden use. The botanist, as a rule, 

 deals with things in a wild state only, and therefore 

 the subject has never been thought of by him ; the 

 horticulturist generally deals only with the useful or 

 the conspicuously attractive, and has'^never thought 

 of culling the higher beauties of our flora. But why 

 should this be so ? " Botany," says Emerson, " is 

 all names, not powers ;" and assuredly, if it does not 

 lead us to a real enjoyment of our wild flowers, it 

 is barely worthy of a better character. To flatten 

 and dry a number of wild plants and leave them 

 in dust and darkness is necessary for botanists, but 

 it is not likely to cause any wide-spread human 

 interest in such things ; and therefore I propose that 

 we look through the list of British wild flowers and 

 endeavour to rescue the subject from its present 

 dry-as-dust character. 



First it will be necessary to have a complete list 

 of British wild flowers, which would be found in the 

 index to Syme's, Bentham's, Babington's, or any 

 other good book on our flora ; but best of all is a 

 special list called the " London Catalogue of British 

 Plants," which used to be published by Pamplin, 



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