In the Garden
A member of a group of French farmers touring East Anglia (where they bought their seed wheats) said to me once: "Everything in England is for beauty," which was his pretty way of saying, "not for use." This, I think, is remarkable in our gardens. A useful novelty takes a long time to be appreciated on the farm, while any new garden flower is at once the rage. There are endless examples. The annual Raoul carna- tions are already a commonplace. Dwarf Michaelmas daisies, used as an edging, are common. Who does not grow Poulsen roses ? The preference here is as excessive as the old sudden zeal for the American Pillar rose. Early-flowering chrysanthemums are seen even in cottage gardens. The shrub prunus subhirtella autumnalis can scarcely be supplied fast enough, and watching the cloud of white blossom, just reaching its best, I do not wonder. Are there any *parallels in the vegetable garden? I doubt it ; though perhaps January King among cabbages is an exception. As Ambassador Page used to complain, the English grow nothing but cabbage. How greatly he missed the American variety. We perfect the lupin,- but scorn the custard marrow and the
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