Introduction 
exists as the dead frame to their living pictures. Nor 
should the frame be so rich and obtrusive that it 
becomes an obsession at the cost of the picture. This, 
then, is the true simplicity and therefore beauty of the 
garden, that the design ‘‘has no superfluous parts, 
and exactly answers its end.’’ There is a ‘‘com- 
pelling reason in the uses of the plant, for every novelty 
of colour and form, and our art saves material by more 
skilful arrangement.’ 
VARIETY IN TASTES AND DESIRES 
So much, then, for the necessity of well-considered 
design in gardens generally, and in the small garden 
in particular. But in a world where no two people 
think exactly alike on all subjects there is bound to be 
a great variety of tastes in gardening. Indeed, I am 
not sure that gardening does not offer a greater variety 
of conceptions of what is desirable than any other 
analogous subject. You may build houses to set pat- 
terns and suit many people, but your gardens will never 
be alike, even though you may use the same design, 
for, though all enthusiastic gardeners emulate what 
they consider to be best in their neighbour’s garden, 
they also endeavour to excel in this and other 
directions. Moreover, it is very rare that even a simple 
design can be applied with equal success to two sites. 
Even if it could, one desires roses, and roses therefore 
become the keynote of the garden scheme. Another 
prefers Sweet Peas, or spring flowering bulbs, or 
flowering shrubs, and gardens for them. Yet another 
chooses to devote considerable space to vegetables or 
fruit ; whilst of two neighbours, the one delights in 
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