THE COTTAGE GARDEN 5 



plants which greet the seasons as Nature intended. As 

 summer wanes, the ground is littered thick with fallen 

 leaves and petals, crimson, amber, chestnut, and gold. 

 No one troubles to remove them ; they drop to earth to 

 nourish the plants which gave them life. Here in truth 

 is realised, more closely perhaps than elsewhere, some- 

 thing of that subtle mystery without which the love 

 of gardens could never have survived so long as it has 

 done. 



To what cause or causes must we then attribute the 

 charm that attends our English cottage gardens ? Tended 

 by those who have served no apprenticeship in the cul- 

 ture of flowers, designed in happy ignorance, destined 

 primarily to please a class ready to offend every known 

 canon of art, yet they contrive to secure the admiration 

 of men who are justly regarded as the leading exponents 

 of practical garden making. Writing in The English 

 Flower Garden, William Robinson says : " Among the 

 things made by man nothing is prettier than an English 

 cottage garden, and they often teach lessons that ' great ' 

 gardeners should learn, and are pretty from Snowdrop 

 time till the Fuchsia bushes bloom nearly into winter." 

 Let us look over the hedge into one of these homely 

 gardens and learn if possible its secret. 



To the believer in text book rules and to those who 

 pin their faith to stereotyped plans, there will be little 

 to gain in the way of information. At first sight, every- 

 thing appears to be hopelessly mixed — paths of varying 

 widths, beds unequally proportioned, plants straying 

 from their legitimate quarters and establishing themselves 

 wherever they can secure convenient roothold. Clearly, 

 such a garden was not secured by the aid of working 

 drawings, measuring rods or instruments for ensuring 

 correct levels. And yet, on looking more closely, we 

 shall find that here is no haphazard jumble, but on the 

 contrary a direct acceptance of certain conditions, the 



