GARDENS AND GARDEN DESIGNERS 11 
no rule-of-thumb method for either; each is worthy of 
just as much love and care as might be bestowed were 
it the only garden in the world. Sedding says, «A 
garden is man’s report of Earth at her best,” which, 
whatever else it may imply, surely suggests that our 
best work, and our noblest conceptions of the beautiful, 
must be pressed into service if we are to effect any real 
improvement. Set styles, and the whims and caprices of 
the individual, live but a short time; they are here 
to-day, but to-morrow their very name is forgotten. 
The next generation will probably eye with disfavour 
much of the garden work which is now regarded with 
so much satisfaction. But there can be no reproaches 
for the man who has worked honestly, endeavoured to 
penetrate the hidden ways of Nature, and trusted in his 
owh common-sense and reason to point out the best 
course. The love of flowers and trees for their own 
sake, and not because it is fashionable, is the same in 
every age, and that form of garden design only is right 
which is founded first and foremost on the study of 
Nature and Nature’s laws. 
