24 



THE BOTS DE BOULOGNE. 



to select a few kinds wliicli have the property of producing 

 dense masses of their particular colours on the ground_, to 

 the almost entire neglect of the nobler and hardier vegeta- 

 tion. The expense of the present system is great^ and 

 must be renewed annually^ while the gratification is of the 

 poorest kind. To a person with no perception of the higher 

 charms of vegetation the thing may prove interesting, and 

 to the professional gardener it is often so ; but to anybody 

 of taste and intelligence, busy in this world of beauty and 

 interest, the result attained by the above method is almost 

 a blank. There can be little doubt that numbers are, un- 

 known to themselves, deterred from taking any interest in 

 the garden ; in fact, it is a blank to them. They in conse- 

 quence may talk or boast of having a " good display,''^ &c., 

 but the satisfaction from that is very poor indeed, compared 

 with the real enjoyment of a garden. 



The one thing we want to do to alter this is to break the 

 chains of monotony with which we are at present bound, 

 and show the world that the '^'^pui^est of humane pleasures" 

 is for humanity, and not for a class, and a narrow one. 

 Eyes everywhere among us are hungering after novelty and 

 beauty ; but in our public gardens they look for it in vain as 

 a rule, for the presence of a few things that they are already 

 as familiar with as with the texture of a gravel walk, must 

 tend to impress them with an opinion that our art is the most 

 inane of all. In books they everywhere find variety, and 

 some interest, if high merit is rare ; the same is the case in 

 painting, in sculpture, in music, and indeed in all the arts ; 

 but in that which should possess it more than any other, 

 and is more capable of it than any other, there is as a rule 

 none to be found. This is not merely the case with the 

 flower-garden and its adjuncts ; it prevails in wood, grove, 

 shrubbery, and in everything connected with the garden. 

 What attempt is made in our parks and pleasure grounds to 

 give an idea of the rich beauty of which our hardy trees are 

 capable, although these places afford the fullest opportunity 

 to do so ? How rare it is to see one-tenth of the floral 

 beauty aff'orded by deciduous shrubs even suggested ! 

 Hitherto our gardening has been marked by two schools — 



