9'2 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



favourites, but begin to talk about the big wheel at Earl's Court, 

 or Marshall and Snelgrove's summer sale, or Gwendolen's baby, 

 or Charley's aunt, or the Pope's encyclical, or the Eton and 

 Harrow match. 



In the garden, as elsewhere, this development of genteel 

 humbug may be contemplated in manifold forms — in those who 

 tell you that they dote upon flowers, but only care for such as 

 are rare and costly, or promise to win prizes at the show ; in 

 those who limit their admiration to one flower only, and ignore 

 the rest ; who only desire them as decorations for their tables, or 

 as exciting outside their windows the admiration of their neigh- 

 bours in the square ; who regard them without gratitude and 

 reverent love towards Him " Whose breath perfumes them and 

 Whose pencil paints," who have never a thought of Him Who 

 said, " Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, they toil 

 not, neither do they spin : and yet I say unto you, That even 

 Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these." 



Let us "ring out the false, ring in the true," and leaving 

 pretence for reality and shadows for substance, let us consider 

 what help we old gardeners can render to those who have our 

 zeal but not our experience. 



What is meant by Garden Craft ? The art surely of obtaining 

 the greatest possible enjoyment from our garden by making it a 

 place which shall refresh our spirit with its restful quietude, and 

 delight our senses with its graceful outlines, its varied colours, 

 sweet fragrance and singing birds. It should be a place of 

 reverent admiration, cheerful exercise, happy intercourse, tender 

 memories, immortal hope. 



How is this art, this craft, to be acquired ? Manifestly it is 

 impossible, seeing that gardens vary so largely in site, and soil, 

 and size, to give special or minute directions, but there are 

 eertain general rules which are for universal obedience, and 

 which, like the laws of the Medes and Persians, alter not. 

 There should be, as far as possible, a correspondence, an adapta- 

 tion of the garden with its surroundings. Horticulture, archi- 

 tecture, and agriculture should blend in triple alliance, by gradual 

 accommodation producing uniformity without formalism, a 

 concert of many instruments in perfect harmony, a combination 



Where order in variety we see, 



And where, tho' all things differ, all agree. 



