Studies in gardening

Preface

The title of this book does not belie its contents. Within these covers lies matter for the consideration of those who think about gardening as well as for those who see and practice it. Unlike other gardening books in its light-hearted choice of topics it is also unhke them in its high charm of manner, in a certain urbanity to which we confess ourselves unaccustomed. Never was a lighter pen than this, never such a pen so well-directed. For gardening, and more especially the appreciation of the art of garden design, are matters upon which much light needs to be thrown for the amateur in this country. Certain chapters of "Studies in Gardening" should be read before every progressive garden club in America; the two on "The Theory of Garden Design," "Common Sense in Gardening," "The Right Use of Annuals," "The Problem of the Herbaceous Border," "The House and the Garden," and that portion of the Introduction entitled "The Planning of the Garden." And what delectable learning is stored in these pages !

The tribute of tributes is most surely paid to a book one has been asked to annotate when the wouldbe critical reader becomes so absorbed in its pages as to forget the critical attitude. So entirely is "Studies in Gardening" what a book on gardening should be.

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so entirely is it what no other has yet been, that to keep from overpraise is difficult. There may be, there will be those to whom a few matters of individual taste in these pages may not commend themselves. This would be always so, whoever wrote, whoever read. The point to be noticed is this: the taste of the author of "Studies in Gardening" is with rare exceptions based on principles and, therefore, cannot but be sound.

When one reflects upon the lack of knowledge of the principles of gardening among our own amateurs one feels more keenly the need of such a leaven as this book affords. General enlightenment on the great subject is our instant want; more study of the broader aspects of the gardening art, enlivening this of course by constant excursions into the lovely realm of flower, shrub, and tree, matters of garden enclosure and garden decoration.

It will be noticed that among the plant subjects considered in the present volume there are some not to be recommended for our Northern States for reasons of soil and climate. It has seemed wise to leave these names unchanged, adding on occasion an explanatory note. Many of these plants flourish in our Northern Pacific States as in England, and of certain parts of the South and Southwest the same may be said. The difference in climate with regard to time of bloom of plants dealt with here makes the suggestion fittmg that the reader allow a date one month later for the latitude of Boston. This opinion is based upon care-

PREFACE vii

ful notes, kept for many years and constantly compared with like notes in English journals. I wish we might impress upon the American gardener (and by gardener I mean of course the amateur) the fact that the good English book carries as much value for him as for the Englishman. It is easy to learn the distinctions between English climate, English soils and the soils and climate of this country; and while good sense compels us to believe in the use of those subjects known to be suited to our country, our own estates or bits of ground, we must still look across seas for most of our finer garden books, and in so looking, we invariably find fresh and excellent material for our beds and borders.

Many unfamiliar names occur in the course of the book. It chances that nineteen varieties of Dianthus are brought into the dissertation on Pinks. I venture to think most of these unloiown to the average gardener, but why should he not add them to his present knowledge of the genus ? Bailey lists twentysix ! Nurserymen will respond to calls for these things. Here is a little foot-hill of horticulture which any one may climb if he will. Let us not level it by means of notes, but rather urge the ambitious gardener to ascend the slope and there achieve a view so fair, so satisfying, that he will wonder that he thought the climb a heavy or laborious thing.

And how accustomed are we in America, those of us who garden, to being written down to ! How seldom in our young literature of gardening may we viii PREFACE

gather the grateful inference of a little practical knowledge on our part and a bit of taste to boot ! We need books to lift us, not to continually presuppose our ignorance. We need books to stimulate our search for garden learning, to send us hunting meanings of names new to us. America is passing from her gardening infancy to her gardening youth. This youth, filled with the romance and beauty of the newly discovered art, is ready for the best in garden writing. Wherefore a book like this is thrice welcome. Its writer has that wide outlook upon the subject denied to all but few. The book has a virility seldom encountered in writings of this character. It shows a large practical and personal acquaintance with plants, and an equally wide knowledge of the principles of fine gardening. Joined to these qualities a love of beauty shines through every page, a charming humour will out upon occasion, and an entirely delightful English style enwraps the whole. American gardening cannot but be richer, finer, for every reader of this book. "It is" exclaims a correspondent lately, "the Englishman at his highest and best. Hear these words: *But a single flowering shrub rightly placed in front of a dark barrier of greenery has your eye to itself and satisfies it, like an altar piece in a quiet church.' Can we forget a sentence like that? I have seldom read a book with an intenser pleasure."

The chapters of this book appeared in the form of letters to the Times (London). The subjects seem to have been taken at random, for in three instances

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only are the articles explicitly related to each other. It has seemed well therefore to allow the order of chapters to stand as in the English edition.

Grateful acknowledgment is here made for valuable help given by Mr. Hubert M. Canning and Mr. Wilbur F. Dubois; also by Dr. Alfred Rehder of the Arnold Arboretum to whom I owe the note on

Cytisus.

Contents

PAGE

Introduction xiii

The cultivation of alpine plants 48