204 



MY LIFE 



[Chap. 



bulbs. Here, without any special trouble, I was able to grow 

 on a raised bank Iris susiana and /. durica for several years 

 in succession, and the lovely jalap plant, Exogonittm purga^ 

 grew most luxuriantly over a low trellis at the back of the 

 same bed. Here, too, I had the magnificent Eremurus 

 rohistus on a raised bank, with Leonotis leonurus, and many 

 other tender shrubs in the borders. I received contributions 

 of uncommon plants from many friends, and ransacked all 

 the nurserymen's catalogues for rarities and curiosities, and I 

 find that I attempted the cultivation in this garden, or in a 

 very small greenhouse and verandah, of about fifteen hundred 

 species of plants, some of which, of course, never reached 

 flowering size, others survived only a few years ; but the 

 delight of watching the growth of these, to me, new forms of 

 vegetable life, and seeing them flower even once or twice, was 

 so great that no trouble was spared to obtain it. 



My gardening has always been to me pure enjoyment. 

 I have never made any experiments with my plants, never 

 attempted to study their minute structure or to write about 

 them ; the mere seeing them grow, noting the infinite diversi- 

 ties of their forms and habits, their likes and dislikes, all 

 made the more interesting by the researches of Darwin, 

 Kerner, H. Miiller, Grant Allen, Lubbock, and others, on the 

 uses of each infinitely varied detail of stem and leaf, of bract 

 and flower — all this was to me a delight in itself, and gave 

 me that general knowledge of the outward forms and inward 

 peculiarities of plants, and of the exquisite beauty and almost 

 infinite variety of the vegetable kingdom, which enabled me 

 better to appreciate the marvel and mystery of plant life, 

 whether in itself or in its complex relations to the higher 

 attributes of man. 



When I came to Parkstone (in June, 1889) I had a 

 smaller garden, but one which I thought would prove better 

 adapted to a variety of species which I had not hitherto 

 succeeded with. I thought my peat-bank facing the south- 

 west might grow some of the beautiful Cape heaths which I 

 had always so greatly admired, so I obtained in the spring 



