Formal Flower-Beds 
stances in Paris, and the effect is best when 
the grass furnishes a perfectly quiet back- 
ground for its gay but not crude or gaudy 
garland. 
Of course the early spring and summer 
aspect of such borders is different from the 
aspect I have described ; but it must be 
equally charming, for then flowering bulbs 
fill the spaces where the summer flowers are 
to follow them, and most of the standard 
shrubs are in blossom. From the artistic 
point of view these beds are a great deal 
better, in very many situations, than the 
best flat and clipped pattern-bed could be ; 
they are less mechanical in both form and 
color while distinctly symmetrical in ef- 
fect, and they show more variety in detail 
while general harmony is well preserved. 
The true lover of plants should prefer them, 
for they allow their furnishings to grow in 
free development ; they permit the use of an 
almost endless list of beautiful flowers ; and, 
discreetly visited by the scissors, they may 
yield harvests for the adornment of the 
house. From the practical point of view 
their superiority is as manifest. The stand- 
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