THE NBW=ZEALAND FOROET=ME=NOT 
323 
man, and where is the control which 
should be exercised in all extensive 
work — by someone independent of the 
tradesman ? No, the nursery should 
be the source of our good supplies, but 
not of design, or we shall never get 
very far away from the mixed muddle 
now characteristic of planting gener- 
ally, arranged at first on the model of 
the show-border in a nursery — Pines 
of giant race set out with bushes, and 
forming a verdant border pleasing to 
the nursery mind. But the same system 
of planting carried out in private places, 
ends in hideous failure. 
The lesson of all this is, that 
although there is nothing so 
good as wise professional ad- 
vice when we can get it, the 
best results and the most dis- 
tinct on the whole, are for 
those who study their own 
ground. A fact which throws 
a light on this point is, that in 
colonies and in certain islands 
where there are no office plans 
handy, people have to think 
for themselves and the result 
is more beautiful than can be 
got in any settled country, the 
gardens being quite distinct 
one from the other ; and so it should 
always be. W. R. 
THE NEW-ZEALAND FORGET- 
ME-NOT {Myosotidiu7n nobile). 
This plant makes a fine picture in many 
a Cornish garden during the month of 
May, while bearing its spreading blue 
flower-heads. It owes its introduction 
to Cornwall to Mr. John Enys, of Enys, 
who many years ago brought home 
seeds. At Enys there is a painting show- 
ing the plant in its native home at 
Chatham Island (400 miles east of New 
Zealand), where it fringes the sea-beach 
just above high- water mark with a long 
line of blue. It grows in the sea-sand 
and so near the waves as to be drenched 
with wind-borne spray. Mr. Enys tells 
me that the plant is fast being exter- 
minated at Chatham Island by cattle, 
which now overrun the shore. It will 
not endure many degrees of frost, and 
was therefore for many years treated 
exclusively as a greenhouse plant in 
ill 
A Pot-grown Plant of MvosoTiDiuAr 
this country. Its culture in the open 
air is thus confined to gardens with a 
mild climate, and even in Cornwall a 
winter protection of Fir branches is 
often given. 
In the best forms the flowers are a 
uniform blue ; in others the centre is 
deep blue margined by paler colour, 
with occasionally a trace of pink on 
the petal ; and there is also a pure white 
