THE COMMON SHRUBBERY. 61 
above the elegant spreading foliage of the Myrrh in the shade 
of the trees, was very beautiful. Note particularly that the 
front of the shrubbery in which this exquisite scene was 
discovered was as stiff and hideous as usual in winter—raw 
earth, full of mutilated roots, and shrubs cut in for the con- 
venience and according to the taste of the diggers. The beds 
in the botanical arrangement near were ugly beyond description. 
Longleat is one of the first places in which the idea of 
the wild garden was practically carried out and ably by the 
forester, Mr. Berry. With such a fine variety of surface and 
soil, the place naturally offers numerous positions in which 
the plants of other countries as cold or colder than our own 
could be naturalised, or so planted that they would increase 
and take care of themselves in the woods. A forester’s duties 
and opportunities are generally such as make it extremely 
difficult for him to carry out such an idea. To know the 
plants even that are likely to succeed is, in itself, a species of 
knowledge which every planter does not possess; however, 
the idea was clearly understood and carried out well, so far 
as possible in the face of rabbits, which are the great destroyers 
of almost all flowering ground vegetation. To get the neces- 
sary quantities of subjects necessitated a little nursery in 
which a sufficient number could be raised of the more vigorous 
perennials, bulbs, and climbers. If this new idea in gardening 
be carried out on the old dotting principle of the herbaceous 
border, its great value and its charming effects cannot be 
realised. To do it rightly we must group and mass as Nature 
does. Though we may enjoy a single flower or tuft here and 
there, the true way is natural fringes and masses of plants, 
one or two species prevailing in a given spot; in that way we 
