THOUGHTS ON COTTAGE GARDENS 9 



fretting sense of exile — while they vied with each 

 other to produce the finest and best specimens of 

 their skill that could be grown. The flower shows 

 which were commonly held in friendly rivalry by 

 these Spitalfields sUk-weavers were the origin and 

 precursors of those which survive in full vigour to 

 this day. Thus, by example — no doubt also by 

 precept — the science of gardening, little by little, 

 was revived and strengthened after long decadence, 

 through the length and breadth of the land, until 

 not a farmstead, not a cottage, scarcely even the 

 merest hovel, but had its knot of flowers, its pot- 

 herbs and roots, its " sin-green " on the thatch, or 

 woodbine cUnging to its poor mud wall. 



In thus expressing, however, the gratitude that 

 is due to foreign influence, there is no wish to be- 

 little that which has survived and risen to a level 

 above and beyond those early days of reawakening 

 — our own English garden craft. The British 

 artisan to this day may look upon vegetable fare as 

 a poor staple of existence, never having learnt to 

 prefer onion soup and salad to roast beef, but he 

 seldom grudges garden ground to roses, or holly- 

 hocks, or pinks ; and in the well-loved borders of 

 humble country homes, thousands of beautiful 



hardy plants which otherwise would have perished, 



2 



