30 



MANUAL OF GARDENING 



unsatisfactory. It generally amounts to this, that we have four 

 months of sparse and downcast vegetation, one month of limp 

 and frost-bitten plants, and seven months of bare earth (Fig. 19). 

 I am not now opposing the carpet-beds which professional gar- 

 deners make in parks and other museums. I like museums, 

 and some of the carpet-beds and set pieces are fearfully and 

 wonderfully made" (see Fig. 20). I am directing my remarks 



20. Worth paying admittance price to see ! 



to those humble home-made flower-beds that are so common in 

 lawns of country and city homes alike. These beds are cut from 

 the good fresh turf, often in the most fantastic designs, and are 

 filled with such plants as the women of the place may be able 

 to carry over in cellars or in the window. The plants them- 

 selves may look very well in pots, but when they are turned 

 out of doors, they have a sorry time for a month adapting 

 themselves to the sun and winds, and it is generally well on 

 towards midsummer before they begin to cover the earth. 

 During all these weeks they have demanded more time and 



