MASTERS AND MEN 279 



But the result of knowledge so gained shows itself 

 throughout the garden. It may be in so simple a 

 thing as the placing of a group of plants. They can 

 be so placed by the hand that knows, that the group 

 is in perfect drawing in relation to what is near ; while 

 by the ordinary gardener they would be so planted 

 that they look absurd, or unmeaning, or in some way 

 awkward and unsightly. It is not enough to cultivate 

 plants well ; they must also be used well, The servant 

 may set up the canvas and grind the colours, and even 

 set the palette, but the master alone can paint the 

 picture. It is just the careful and thoughtful exercise 

 of the higher qualities that makes a garden interesting, 

 and their absence that leaves it blank, and dull, and 

 lifeless. I am heartily in sympathy with the feeling 

 described in these words in a friend's letter, " I think 

 there are few things so interesting as to see in what 

 way a person, whose perceptions you think fine and 

 worthy of study, will give them expression in a 

 garden." 



