vi PREFACE. 
woods—a world of delightful plant beauty that we might in 
this er make happy around us, in places now weedy, or half 
bare, or useless. I saw that we could not only grow thus a . 
thousandfold more lovely flowers than are commonly seen in 
what is called the flower garden, but also a number which, 
by any other plan, have no chance whatever of being seen 
around us. This is a system which will give us more 
beauty than ever was dreamt of in gardens, without interfer- 
ing with formal gardening in any way. 
In this illustrated edition, by the aid of careful drawings, 
I have endeavoured to suggest in what the system consists; 
but if I were to write a book for every page that this contains, 
I could not hope to suggest the many beautiful aspects of 
vegetation which the wild garden will enable us to enjoy at 
our doors. 
The illustrations are, with a few slight exceptions, the 
work of Mr. Alfred Parsons, and the drawing and engraving 
have been several years in execution. They are after 
nature, in places where the ideas expressed in the first small 
edition of the book had been carried out, or where accident, 
as in the case of the beautiful group of Myrrh and white 
Harebells, had given rise to the combinations or aspects of 
vegetation sought. I cannot too heartily acknowledge the 
skill and pains which Mr. Parsons devoted to the drawings, 
and to the success which he has attained in illustrating the 
motive of the book, and such good effects as have already 
been obtained where the idea has been intelligently carried out. 
