Faults in Gardening 



which my present paper is directed, all 

 centre in this one thing — the constant 

 subjection of the imaginative, or higher, 

 to the sensuous, or lower, element of 

 flower beauty. We will trace this, first, 

 in the general arrangement of gardens 

 and of flowers in relation to each other, 

 and afterwards in the case of their in- 

 dividual culture. To begin, then, we find 

 flower-beds habitually considered too much 

 as mere masses of colour, instead of as an 

 assemblage of living beings. The only 

 thought is to delight the eye by the ut- 

 most possible splendour. When we walk 

 in our public gardens everything seems 

 tending to distract the attention from 

 the separate plants and to make us look 

 at them only with regard to their united 

 effect. And this universal brilliancy, this 

 striking effect of the masses, is the ac- 

 knowledged chief aim of the cultivator. 

 Speaking of the older gardens, Mr. C. 

 Mcintosh says : No doubt that ten out of 

 every twelve sorts of annuals thus grown 

 were useless trash, weedy in appearance, 

 and producing none of those brilliant 

 ieffects for which our modern flower gar- 

 dens are so conspicuous ; and the same 

 may be said of the perennial plants exist- 

 ing in those days. . . . Gardeners of the 



