204 STUDIES IN GARDENING 



in the country. Indeed, lie would be more inclined 

 when in the country to make believe that he was in 

 the town. Thus his gardening, and also the Italian 

 gardening, is seen at its best in the town and at its 

 worst in the country, unlike ours which is country 

 gardening and will not acclimatize itseK to the town. 

 It is true, of course, that the gardening of our parks 

 is excellent, better indeed than any in Paris; but 

 that is just because those parks are large enough to 

 admit of country gardening, because flowers can be 

 well grown, and trees and large shrubs are not mere 

 nuisances in them. The gardeners of our parks have 

 managed with admirable art to make their flowers 

 seem at home where they are planted, an art which 

 the Paris gardeners, skilful as they are, have not ac- 

 quired. Even in towns we are supreme in the manage- 

 ment of flowers, wherever flowers can be well grown; 

 and the reason is that we think of a garden as a place 

 for flowers, whereas for the Frenchman or the Italian 

 it is an outdoor parlour which may be ornamented 

 with flowers or with other things according to the 

 taste of its owner. 



This love of flowers is part of our love for the coun- 

 try, and consequently it is a love of flowers growing 

 rather than picked. We may compare it with the 

 Italian love of painting, not merely in the form of 

 pictures, but as a decoration to walls, which still per- 

 sist although the great masters of fresco have long 

 passed away and although it is often put to absurd 

 uses. Those who have only seen Italian pictures in 



