72 MEMOIR OF ALFRED SMEE. [Chap. VIII. 



exactly realize this ideal. They are sufficient to give profit, pleasure, nay, 

 luxury, to the mere labourer. Of course it is not to be expected that the 

 .keeping or the condition of the houses, or of the plants in them, would 

 satisfy a head-gardener on a ducal estate ; but from the point of view of the 

 proprietor they are all that could be desired or expected, and relatively to 

 the outlay we should not be surprised if the produce were larger, as the 

 pleasure to the proprietor was certainly greater, than in establishments of 

 greater pretensions. Insects, fishes, birds, fossils, nothing came amiss to 

 the hospitable proprietor of this garden. How keen his interest, how 

 great his delight in these matters, is evidenced in his work, ' My Garden,' 

 reviewed in these pages at the time of publication. 



What happy days were those to us — those which were bestowed 

 on the laying out of that garden ! From a narrow strip of land came 

 a little more under cultivation, then a little more, until the whole 

 plot of ground consisted of nearly eight acres of land and water. 

 Well shall I ever remember how we looked forward to the Satur- 

 days, on which days my brother and myself had always a holiday, 

 and when we two with my father betook ourselves to Walling- 

 ton, my mother joining us in the afternoon. Well shall I ever 

 remember the excitement of the Friday evenings, fearing lest we 

 might not awake betimes on the morrow, and thereby miss getting 

 to the embryo garden by the dawn of day. And the planting of 

 trees, the forming of the bowers, the walks, the constructing of the 

 glass houses, the bridges and other works of the like kind, which 

 must necessarily interest children who had from their earliest 

 years imbibed a love of Nature ! — for who could live with Alfred 

 Smee without becoming a votary to her shrine ? The entertain- 

 ments which my father and mother gave during the summer 

 months, commencing on the 1st of May, the first day of trout- 

 fishing, at " my garden " at Wallington, will long be remem- 

 bered by the hundreds who not only enjoyed their hospitality, 

 but who were benefited by the botanical knowledge obtained 

 therein, whereby many had awakened in them a keener appre- 

 ciation of Nature's works. The ' Gardeners' Magazine ' for the 

 4th of July, 1868, contains an interesting description of one of 

 these Saturday reunions. Many friends have told us how from 

 year to year they have looked forward to spend some Saturdays 

 with Mr. Smee in his garden. 



In an anonymous little pamphlet in which one of the members 

 of the B's* amused himself by portraying in verses some of the 



* The B's is a club composed of some of the leading chemists of the day. 

 They call themselves B's because the department for chemistry was grouped in B 

 section at the Great Exhibition of 1851. 



