166 THE PAEKS AND GAEDENS OF PAEIS. [Chap. XI. 



bargaining, would be done away with, tlte planter having merely to 

 indicate the subjects required. They could be quickly despatched 

 to any given point in vans constructed for the purpose. In 

 addition to these advantages, a small portion of each nursery 

 might be set apart as an experimental ground to test newly- 

 introduced or imperfectly-known plants ; and in this respect each 

 would be of valuable aid, not only to the State, but also to the 

 general public. With our parks and crown lands in which to 

 select positions, the establishment of such gardens would not be 

 expensive, and would in a very few years save the first cost of 

 their formation. Our large nurserymen would feel a pleasure 

 in contributing their novelties and rarities, as they now do to our 

 botanic gardens, and a system of exchange might be arranged 

 between them to the advantage of both public, private, and 

 commercial establishments. The adoption of such a system does 

 not do away with the commerce with nurserymen for new or rare 

 plants, but simply secures ample supplies of those in general 

 request. 



The present system is too expensive and imperfect to last. 

 We have, in and around London and our other great cities, 

 numerous public parks and gardens, and it is to be hoped their 

 number will go on increasing from year to year. Let us suppose 

 that the superintendent or designer of a new public park or 

 garden wants many thousand trees and shrubs for its embellish- 

 ment. He has to obtain them wherever he can, and as our 

 nurseries are arranged chiefly or solely for private supply, most 

 probably there will be great difficulty in getting some things 

 even at high prices. For example, a very important item in 

 town-gardening consists of trees for park and avenue planting. 

 If at the present moment we wished to plant an avenue of Plane- 

 trees, of suitable size and properly prepared for the purpose, we 

 should have to send to the Continent for them, as in our own 

 nurseries they are not prepared for street-planting ; in which 

 case they would cost much more than if bought in this country, 

 and be in far worse condition for the purpose than if they had 

 been grown at home. The Planes on the Thames Embankment 

 were imported from the Continent, and of course there would not 

 have been the slightest occasion for this if we possessed the kind 

 of establishments described, and of which the necessity must be 



