Vlll 
HERBACEOUS GARDEN 
three other houses belonging to us, and have 
taken great interest in their subsequent develop- 
ment. One of these is a medium-sized .garden 
worked by a man and a boy ; one a garden 
of about half an acre, with a man three days a 
week ; and one a still smaller garden, with a 
man one day a week for digging and mowing. 
People often say to me, “ How did you 
learn ? ” I grew up in a garden, and inherited 
doubtless the love for it ; but I began gardening 
in a cat-walk at the back of a small London 
house out of Grosvenor Place, and grew, with 
some success, carnations, lilacs, and a few 
annuals, and such herbs as parsley and chervil. 
My next experience was a country cottage on 
stiff* clay, with an acre of garden. Here I had 
a factotum who “did” the garden, chickens, 
etc., and here some of the said experience was 
bought at a price. I have always taken in 
gardening papers, and read all the standard 
books I could get, and I owe a great deal to 
Mr W. Robinson (the pioneer of present-day 
gardening) and to his invaluable books and 
gardening paper. I have also found sympa- 
thetic friends in France, Italy, and America, 
as well as in England, in whose gardens I have 
learned a good deal. And I have invariably 
found therein that lovers of flowers, whether 
