16 tiie amateur’s flower garden. 
factory, though always open to the accusation of an alliance 
with commonplace and monotony. On the other hand, the 
common repetition, on the margins of lawns in private gardens, 
of circular beds containiug standard roses, surrounded by 
geraniums, verbenas, and other such stuff, is ineffective and 
puerile. Gardens embellished in this way have no character 
at all, they are mere confusions. Far better would it be to 
concentrate the energies which the “ pincushion” beds con¬ 
sume to a poor purpose, on a neat and reasonably circum¬ 
scribed parterre, which would constitute a feature and afford 
considerable interest. To be sure, it is easy to plant pincushion 
beds, because they are scarcely co-related, but a parterre de¬ 
mands'talent, and that is not always available. 
In a majority of instances, geometric gardens are laid out 
on grass turf, and the green groundwork adds immensely to 
the beauty of the flowers. 
In elaborately furnished 
gardens, a groundwork 
of silver sand, with box 
embroidery to define the 
outlines and fill in the 
angles, is employed in 
an open space set apart 
for the purpose, and the 
scheme is enriched with 
statuary, clipped yews, 
laurels, cypresses, and 
vases containing yuccas, 
agaves, or masses of ge¬ 
raniums. The working 
out of a great design 
in coloured earths and 
flower-beds is the most complicated, and, generally speaking, 
perhaps the least satisfactory, form of the parterre. It has this 
advantage, that, during winter, it affords “ something to look 
at,” but the corresponding disadvantage is that nobody wants to 
see it. A favourite idea with artists in this line of business is to 
draw out, on a gigantic scale, a group of rose, shamrock, and 
thistle in coloured earths and box embroidery, and while the 
thing is new it looks tolerably well; but the majority of 
people do not keep themselves sufficiently under control when 
tempted to indulge a smile as they admire it. Generally 
