Editor's Preface 



he did so with power^ because he was able 

 to point out one special hut very large blot 

 in the system. He showed that it led to an 

 utter ignorance of^ and an almost wicked 

 contempt for^ the beauty of individual flowers. 

 The flower in itself had become nothings it 

 was but one small spot in a large mass of 

 colour^ and had no value except in so far 

 as it helped the mass. His words were : 

 " Our flower beds are mere masses of colour^ 

 instead of an assemblage of living beings : 

 the plant is never old^ never youngs it de- 

 generates from a plant into a coloured orna- 

 ment!'* "The trumpet gave no uncertain sound^ 

 and it did its work against the most de- 

 termined opposition — especially from gardeners 

 and nurserymen — and one thing that helped 

 to the flnal victory was his often-repeated 

 advice to study and love the wild flowers. 

 With the advocates of bedding-out these could 

 have no place^ but Forbes Watson showed that 

 the study of plant life and plant beauty could 

 be carried on without the help of grand 

 exotics or Museum Herbaria ; that the plant 

 lover would flnd all he wanted in the fields 

 and hedgerows of his own land; and that 



the more he studied them there^ the more he 



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