Flowers and Gardens 



fragrance ; or when he aims at great size 

 without due regard to its effect upon the 

 highest beauty of the plant ; or when he 

 seeks after tawdry variations of colour. 

 He acts as a true artist, on the other hand, 

 in creating those full, rounded. Rubens- 

 like forms, whenever they are really noble ; 

 or in obtaining any worthy gain, whether 

 by increasing the size of the blossoms or 

 intensifying their natural brilliancy of 

 colour, even if at some cost to the perfect 

 harmonies of the plant ; or in creating such 

 strange loveliness as that of those double 

 Carnations, where the edge of each creamy 

 petal is drawn with a narrow line of pink, 

 all the rest of the blossom being left as 

 spotless as the snow ; or lastly, in improv- 

 ing, and here with scarcely any drawback, 

 the various kinds of fruit. In these and a 

 hundred other such cases the gardener well 

 deserves the gratitude of every lover of 

 flowers. 



But then comes our caution. Whilst 

 looking at these splendid flowers, let us 

 never be so far dazzled as to forget that 

 they are for the most part highly artificial 

 products. Much of their beauty is pro- 

 duced at the expense of native character ; 

 and the cultivator, perhaps necessarily 

 overvaluing the changes effected by his 



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