A QARDEN ALLEGORY 31 
began. " Pray do not hurry, we may miss 
things of interest ; here, for instance, is a 
Dasylirion, which, I venture to say, you have 
seen nowhere else ; true, it is not unhke older 
kinds, but it is quite a new plant — Dasylirion 
glaucescens — and should on no account be con- 
fused with them." Strong with my inward 
resolve not to spoil his pleasure, I took notice 
of it. " Ah ! here we have a Cocos campestris, 
which is fully 18 inches taller than the plant 
of M. Mazelof whichhe is so proud; and what 
do you say to this Xeronema Moorei? 1 paid 
200 francs for one small root which will not 
flower for another two years, but it is most 
rare. This also is not much to look at as yet, 
but is a treasure — it is a Cyphosperma. Perhaps 
you have heard Viscount boast of his 
fine Palms, which he will call Phoenix reclinata, 
whereas anyone may see that they are nothing 
but Phoenix tenuis ; I admit that tenuis is the 
better plant, but they are not the same thing. 
Now, here is the true Phoenix rec/inata, not like 
the over-fed trunks of my neighbour, but the 
real thing. Ah ! when shall I forget his look 
upon seeing my Cyphosperma; but come along, 
the path is steep, but we shall be rewarded by 
seeing a superb Araucaria." Now I am not 
fond of the Araucaria, and felt impelled to 
say so. " You do them injustice, but of course 
you have not seen mine." " And your Roses ? " 
I ventured. " Roses — oh yes, there are some 
here and there we may see in passing ; but after 
all, what is a Rose ? I call them a cottager's 
flower." Could I do other than resent this 
irritating slight of the poor man and his flowers ? 
I hardly saw a Croton elongatum next pressed 
upon my admiration, and was again hurried 
forward to another idol, a Banana. " Perhaps 
the Musa ensete with its fine leaves," I sug- 
gested. " Oh no, not that ; I had one — the 
finest you have ever seen — but have lost it ; 
this is sinensis, but a form of my own which 
ripens its fruit in the open air. 
Again we neared the house, but, spite of the 
heat, my tormentor was too intent on pleasure 
to think of rest, and continued : " See this 
superb Agave — I have heard that those of Villa 
Thuret are as good, but I don't beheve it." 
" Those at Antibes are fine, have you seen 
them ? " " Not I ; I have heard too much of 
them to wish to see them " — and our walk 
began afresh. Stooping for a moment to admire 
the flower of a beautiful little rock-plant, my 
host broke in upon me, "Ah, that is my Me- 
sembryanthemum — you will not find that any- 
where but in this garden." It was charming — 
a little rosy star glistening with silver sheen, 
and planted by the thousand as a flowery carpet. 
" It is the M. deltoides^'' he continued ; "one of 
my friends here thinks that he has it, but his 
is only M. caulescens — a common plant ; I am 
sure you have not this in your garden." And 
then, lest I should ask a fragment of his thou- 
sand plants, and so mar the sweetness of its sole 
possession — " But come, see a Pritchardia of 
which you may boast never to have seen the 
equal." I struggled inwardly — should I not 
teach the man a lesson ? So, still looking at the 
little sun-plant, I continued — " Your little 
rosy Mesembryanthemum is almost as lovely as 
my blue one." " A blue one ! there is no blue 
one " ; and then began a dialogue by which, 
spite of himself, my man was forced to believe 
that such a flower existed, though only in my 
garden, where I had cherished it for years; and 
as I told of its beauty and fine colour, my guide 
became silent and crestfallen. I had something 
that he lacked, and the thought was bitterness; 
and when I took my leave, I knew that to him 
there would be neither rest nor pleasure until 
he finds the blue sun-plant. He may wait 
and search, but will not find it, for it exists 
but in my own imagination, invented that he 
might taste something of the measure with 
which he metes. ALPHONSE KARR. 
GARDEN CITIES : A Study of Parks, 
Gardens, and Culture Institutes. By 
Professor Geddes, Edinburgh. 
When the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust re- 
solved to lay out their park, they entrusted 
to Professor Geddes the work of reporting as 
to the best way of setting about it, and no 
better choice could have been made. Un- 
fortunately, a spirit of open frugality seems to 
have presided at the birth, and the report 
exhibits all the worst vices of most modern 
books, as well as several others due to haste. 
The compiler of a report like this is, of 
course, not the master of his ways and means, 
and the time allotted to him for his task is 
generally much too short, so that it would be 
unfair to blame Professor Geddes for any hand 
in the crude photographs, the mean, hard 
