PREFACE 



THE following papers have been written 

 during a last illness^ which has often 

 made it impossible to examine the 

 specimens I could have wished. In 

 the Primrose^ for example, I have only been 

 able to make out satisfactorily the drooping 

 aspect of the leaf: how this combines itself 

 with the more rigid character in the different 

 stages of the leaf I do not fully understand. 

 For the same reason many of the illustrations^ 

 especially in the chapters on Gardenings have 

 been selected as being the most ready to hand 

 rather than as the best. In my remarks on 

 Gardening I have no wish at all to disparage 

 the modern systems. My aim chiefly was to 

 point out the faults of modern gardenings be- 

 cause its merits are such as it is impossible 

 to overlook. Lastly^ in many instances my 

 remarks bear more or less reference to the 

 works of Ruskin^ the greatest and best of 



