THE BOIS DE BOULOGNE. 



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one in -which a few, or comparatively few, good tliingV^ are 

 grown; the other, the botanic garden school, in which 

 every obtainable thing is grown, be it ugly or handsome. 

 "What we want for the ornamental public garden is the mean 

 between these two ; we want the variety of the botanic 

 garden without its scientific but very unnatural and ugly 

 arrangement; we want its interest without its weediness 

 and monotony. 



There is no way in which the deadening formalism of 

 our gardens may be more effectually destroyed than by the 

 system of naturally grouping hardy plants. It may afford the 

 most pleasing results, and impress on others the amount of 

 variety and loveliness to be obtained from many families now 

 almost unused. To suggest in how many directions we may 

 produce the most satisfactory effects, I have merely to give 

 a few instances. Suppose that in a case where the chief 

 labour and expense now go for an annual display, or what 

 some might call an annual muddle, the system is given uj) 

 for one in which all the taste and skill and expense go to 

 the making of features that do not perish with the first 

 frosts. Let us begin, then, with a carefully selected collec- 

 tion of trees and shrubs distinguished for their fine foliage — 

 by noble leaf beauty, selecting a quiet glade in which to 

 develope it. I should by no means confine the scene to this 

 type alone, as it would be desirable to show what the leaves 

 were by contrast, and to vary it in other ways — with bright 

 beds of flowers if you like. It would make a feature in 

 itself attractive, and show many that it is not quite neces- 

 sary to resort to things that require the climate of Rio 

 before you find marked leaf beauty and character. It 

 would teach, too, how valuable such things would prove for 

 the mixed collection. Many kinds of leaf might be therein 

 developed, from the great simple-leaved species of the 

 rhubarb type to the divided ones of Lindley^s spiraea, and 

 the taller Ailantus, Kolreuteria, Gymnocladus, &c. The 

 fringes of such a group might well be lit up with beds of 

 lilies, irises, or any showy flow^ers ; or better still, by hardy 

 flowering shrubs. An irregularly but artistically planted 

 group of this kind would prove an everlasting source of 



