THE COTTAGE GARDEN 9 



minimum, and a bond of mutual interest established 

 between the owners of small pleasure grounds. 



The cottager's garden is charming because it is appro- 

 priate — appropriate not only as regards its actual contents, 

 but in its association with dwelling house and outbuild- 

 ings. It is useless to expect a pleasing effect when a 

 garden is dwarfed by the size of the house, or the 

 house is made insignificant by the spaciousness of its 

 garden. One is necessarily the complement of the 

 other, and as it is rarely possible to fit the house to the 

 garden it should be the care of every good designer to 

 adapt the garden to the style and character of the house. 

 There is no reason, of course, why a small house should 

 not possess a large garden ; the point is, that such parts 

 of it as are actually adjacent to the building shall be 

 duly proportionate and in keeping with its architectural 

 plan. Arid wastes of gravel, unrelieved stretches of 

 lawn, or numerous geometrically formed flower beds, 

 are features too overpowering for the small cottage, 

 which demands a garden of the utmost simplicity. Now- 

 adays it is the fashion among the wealthy to build week- 

 end cottages of unpretentious exterior and to surround 

 them with gardens of the most elaborate description. I 

 know one of this kind, a homely bungalow residence, 

 creeper clad, and in itself wholly charming. But it is 

 set in the midst of pleasure grounds laid out in the 

 Italian style, with much stonework and carpet bedding. 

 The effect produced is hardly less incongruous than 

 would result from the placing of Buckingham Palace 

 in a meadow. 



To those who have eyes to see, there are lessons in- 

 numerable in the humble gardens of the countryside. 

 After all — and of this none should be more conscious 

 than their writers — books are but finger posts, which, 

 so far as nature is concerned, merely point the way to 

 the true sources of knowledge and inspiration. 



