118 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
November 29. 
MY PHYSIC GARDEN. 
By a Physician. 
No. 2.—Introduction Continued. 
And now having, like a garrulous old man, said so 
much about myself, how shall I describe my physic 
garden? Shall I begin alphabetically? or shall I 
commence with that bed of varied-coloured flowers, 
all in full bloom, beneath my study window ? No ! 
both have their objections. I will first tell you of 
my plan, and then give you the reasons why I do 
not follow either of the above, which, at first sight, 
may seem far simpler and easier. All things which 
are well done must be the results of order and 
method. In the arrangement of my flowers, beds 
and borders, it is true, I insist upon the greatest 
nicety of rule; but that is one of taste and feeling, 
and relates more to the scientific harmony and blend¬ 
ing of colours than to the properties of my plants. 
After due consideration, then, and much talk with 
my learned friend the Editor, I have determined that 
my plan shall be to follow the natural arrangement, 
as it is called, and to describe my plants as they are 
classed together in families or groups possessing some 
common or analogous likeness. By this means I 
shall avoid much repetition; it will enable me to 
generalise to a great extent, and, as a consequence, 
the reader will be better able to retain in his memory 
all that I am about to tell him. Besides which, we 
really do find that plants which approach each other 
by some general similarity of external form and in¬ 
ternal structure, possess, for the most part, analogous, 
and very often entirely similar properties. A know¬ 
ledge of this fact enables us to substitute one plant 
for another, and to use that which we have in the 
place of another which we do not possess. Thus all 
the malvaceae are emollient, the crucifereae acrid and 
stimulating, the gentianaceae bitter and tonic, the 
labiacere aromatic, the apocynaceae acrid and irritant; 
and we may, without inconvenience, employ indiscri¬ 
minately, and wherever we may chance to be, any 
one member of the same natural family. Of course 
I speak generally, for there are many exceptions to 
this rule ; and although the anomalies between mem¬ 
bers of the same families are much fewer than the 
analogies, it is necessary to warn the reader that they 
do exist—Botany, like other sciences, being still im¬ 
perfect. 
It is true I might have adopted the same method 
with my beds and borders, and arranged their con¬ 
tents according to their analogies and their properties. 
But, then, for the most part, how cold and unvaried 
would have been their aspect! I confess to some¬ 
thing more than pure utilitarianism; and, woe’s me! 
I have a taste. Now, in telling why I do not describe 
my physic garden according to my beds and the order 
of their contents, I will give the readers of The Cot¬ 
tage Gardener a few hints upon the theory and prac¬ 
tice of arranging flowers, whether in the garden itself, 
in the drawing-room, or in nosegays. No one, I 
think, will venture to deny that colours may be com¬ 
bined so as to be either agreeable or disagreeable to 
the eye. If this be true, as it undoubtedly is, then 
a wide path is opened for the discovery of the laws 
governing their harmonious association. There can 
be no doubt that such laws exist. If they did not, 
one classification would be as pleasing as another, 
and no excellence would be found to exist in the 
colouring of the great masters. The real properties 
of colours, in consequence of their extremely subtle 
nature, are not so easily appreciated as those of sound; 
but as a very close analogy exists between sound and 
| colour, both as regards their respective effects either 
separate or in union, we may safely apply the princi¬ 
ples of thorough bass or harmony to the assemblage 
of hues and tints, whether in works of art or the 
scientific arrangement of the parterre. Taking the 
seven colours of the rainbow as equivalent to the 
seven notes of the natural musical scale, the order 
will stand th us :— 
Red. Orange. Yellow. Green. Blue. Indigo. Violet. 
1 C. D. E. F. G. A. B. 
The red here sounds the key colour of the prismatic 
series, and corresponds to 0, the root note of the 
musical scale in the natural key, and both would of 
| course be again repeated as the octave or eighth 
degree of the gamut. Red, then, must be just as 
1 prominent in well-conceived pictures as C in musical 
pieces composed in that key; and tire remaining 
i sounds and colours have corresponding functions in 
i the two sciences. I will advance a few arguments 
in support of the truth of this doctrine; and then 
the gardener who has read what I say, and ever 
j again makes up an unharmonious nosegay, I tell 
| him plainly he is not worth his meat—or I am in my 
dotage. 
First, the definition of a sentient impression must 
be similar both as respects the nerves of hearing and 
seeing and the impulses of their appropriate stimuli, 
sound and light being respectively rhythmetical or 
undulatory in their nature. 
Secondly, the number of undulations producing 
the lowest tone in the scale are fewer in a given time 
than those of the next note above, which are in their 
turn fewer than the undulations of the remaining 
notes. Just as in colours, the undulations giving 
rise to red are fewer in a given space or time than 
t those of orange, which are relatively fewer than those 
j of yellow, and so of the rest. 
Thirdly, the primitive colours are red, yellow, and 
I blue, all others being compounds of them, and they 
occupy the same positions in the primitive series 
that C, E, and G, hold as constituting the perfect 
chord in the musical scale. 
The points thus cursorily proposed are bold and 
very general analogies: these are worthy of much 
closer investigation, but they are quite sufficient in 
this place to enable us to apply certain principles, 
first, I believe, proposed by Mr. Macdonald, a London 
artist, residing in Berner-street, to the arrangement 
of flowers according to their colours, either in gar¬ 
dens or in bouquets. 
Tn music, when a chord is struck, in order to be 
effective, all its notes must be equally full and well 
balanced. Now, breadth of colour corresponds to 
length of tone; and the terms “depth,” “strength,” 
and “ richness,” seem to be generally applied to both, 
to express similar and analogous properties. All 
these points must be borne in mind in the arrange¬ 
ment of flowers. Thus the masses of red in coxcombs 
and sweetwilliams would be but inharmoniouslv 
balanced by the yellow disks of double daises, or by 
any small flower of that colour with thinly scattered 
blossoms; or their depth and richness would be 
poorly matched by the pale and delicate tint of some 
primroses, even though its breadth or fulness be suf¬ 
ficient. Of course the general figure, size and charac¬ 
ter of every plant, but particularly its inflorescence, 
must be considered with reference to its association 
with others, where it is to supply any special colour 
to complete the harmony. 
And now, with regard to the choice of colour, so 
j as to produce the most pleasing effect when placed 
