Faults in Gardening 



to-day, gone to-morrow. The very tidi- 

 ness of the beds and the neat propriety of 

 the plants contribute to this impression. 

 We feel the omnipresence of a severity 

 which cannot tolerate straggling. None 

 have been admitted but polished gentlemen 

 who will never break the rules ; and we 

 feel that the most cherished offender would 

 be instantly and remorselessly punished.^ 

 But the old garden impresses us always 

 by that evidence of loving tenderness for 

 the plants. ''That wallflower ought not 

 to have come up in the box-edging; but 

 never mind, we must manage to get on 

 without hurting the wallflower." And At 

 is this spirit of compromise, this happy, 

 genial, kindly character, as contrasted with 

 the sterner and less loving spirit which 

 you feel ready to descend upon any trans- 

 gressor in a moment, that makes the 

 difference of which we speak. 



It is plain, then, that in any garden 

 where the meaner plants are slighted or 



^ I have been referring here to the herbaceous plants 

 and evergreens of the ordinary beds (Thujas, Junipers, 

 Rhododendrons, Sic), rather than to the larger trees and 

 shrubs. To run down the glorious Rhododendrons in 

 themselves would be preposterous, but they always have^ 

 however large they may grow, an air of gentlemanly re- 

 straint, a drawing-room manner^ as it were,, which must 

 produce the effect we have described wherever they are 

 very numerous. 



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