158 HOME AND GARDEN 



all different, can only make a group of no merit 

 from a pictorial point of view. And though I 

 advise this temperate use of plants as a general 

 principle, I do not presume to lay it down as a law. 

 For it is just in occasional or even frequent excep- 

 tions in the practice of such treatment that the 

 garden artist can best use his knowledge. Though 

 nine plants out of ten may no doubt be best used 

 in liberal groupings, yet every now and then one 

 comes upon something that looks best as a single 

 object, and often in the large groups of one kind 

 of plant there comes a point where it is desirable 

 to make some slight variation ; for though to make a 

 good effect there must be moderation and simplicity, 

 we do not want monotony. In arranging a group 

 of say two dozen Caladiums, there may occur some 

 place where it is desirable to have two or three 

 whose leaves have some slight difference of colour- 

 ing or variegation, and a few more may need to be 

 quite detached from the main group though still 

 in relation to it. Some incident or circumstance 

 belonging to the environment may demand the ex- 

 ceptional treatment ; it is perceived almost uncon- 

 sciously, the plants are duly placed, and the picture 

 comes right. 



The service houses in the middle space would 

 grow good things in quantity for all the tempera- 

 tures, both of Ferns and other beautiful greenery, 

 and of flowering plants : Orchid, Gloxinia, Begonia, 



