134 The Wild Garden 



often finds kinds fit for freedom. The many plants 

 good in all positions may increase in these borders till 

 plentiful enough for planting out in some quantity in 

 the wild garden. The wild garden here has been 

 wholly formed by the owner, who planted with his own 

 hands the plants that now adorn it throughout the year. 

 Tew Park will long be interesting, from the fact that 

 it was there J. C. Loudon practised agriculture before 

 he began writing the works that were such a marked 

 addition to the garden literature of England. The 

 Grove there is a plantation of fine trees, bordering 

 a wide sweep of grass that varies in width. This grove, 

 unlike much of the rest of the ground, does not vary in 

 surface, or varies but little, so that one of the greatest 

 aids is absent. Originally this now pleasant grove was 

 a dense wood, with Gout-weed mainly on the ground, 

 and troublesome flies in the air. A few years ago the 

 formation of a wild garden was determined upon, and 

 the first operation was the thinning of the wood ; light 

 and moving air were let into it, and overcrowded trees 

 removed. It was found, after deeply digging the 

 ground, and sowing the Wood Forget-me-not in its place, 

 that Gout-weed disappeared. The effect of broad 

 sheets of this Woodji[orget-me-notJ^M3?©S0tis--S3zivatica) 

 beyond, and seen above, the long waving Grass, gradually 

 receding under the trees, was very beautiful; now 

 Qune) its beauty is not so marked as earlier, when, the 

 platits being more compact, the colour was fuller ; but 

 one charm of the wild garden is that the very changes 



