Faults in Gardening 



And where the marjoram once, and sage and rue, 

 And balm and mint, with curled-leaf parsley grew, 

 And double marigolds, and silver thyme, 

 And pumpkins 'neath the window used to climb ; 

 And where I often, when a child, for hours 

 Tried through the pales to get the tempting flowers ; 

 As lady's laces, everlasting peas, 

 True-love lies bleeding, with the hearts at ease ; 

 And golden rods, and tansy running high. 

 That o'er the pale-top smiled on passer-by ; 

 Flowers in my time which every one would praise, 

 Though thrown like weeds from gardens nowa- 

 days." 



There might be, as Mr. Mcintosh says, 

 but little attempt at colour grouping, or at 

 the production of effect by masses in a 

 narrow sense. But was there any want 

 of beauty there? And did you not feel, 

 in looking at those flowers, how each 

 made you love it as a friend — the Pinks 

 and Sweet-Williams, the Everlasting Peas, 

 Valerian, Day Lily, Jacob's Ladder, and a 

 host of others ? And did you not notice 

 how ever and again you fell upon some 

 quaint, strange plant which has been ex- 

 pelled from the modern border, which 

 seemed to touch your inmost soul, and to 

 fill the mind, especially if in childhood, 

 with a sense of wonder and mysterious 

 awe ? What was that plant ? Could not 

 anybody tell its name, and where it came 

 from, and all else about it, for it must 



lOI 



