. The Canadian horticulturist. Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario; Fruit-culture. 218 The Canadian Horticulturist. WHAT SHALL WE PLANT? HEN a man begins to plant his home-grounds, with the primary aim of making a consistent picture of the whole, or, if he is wiser still, and designs his house and its surroundings together so that they make one inseparable composition, he should select every tree and shrub and herb, not for its individual decorative qualities, but for its value in helping to realize and express the ideal house-scene which he has mentally created. His fences, his walks and li
. The Canadian horticulturist. Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario; Fruit-culture. 218 The Canadian Horticulturist. WHAT SHALL WE PLANT? HEN a man begins to plant his home-grounds, with the primary aim of making a consistent picture of the whole, or, if he is wiser still, and designs his house and its surroundings together so that they make one inseparable composition, he should select every tree and shrub and herb, not for its individual decorative qualities, but for its value in helping to realize and express the ideal house-scene which he has mentally created. His fences, his walks and lines of approach, his stretches of grass, the masses of verdure which connect his house- foundations with the grounds, are all features of one scene, and they are all so related to each other that we should not consider the attractiveness of single elements apart from the rest, but should estimate their value as they help to round out the symmetry and beauty of the whole. To create a good house" scene is the work of a real artist, and artists of the first rank are rare in every profession, more rare, perhaps, in landscape-gardening than in any other of the arts of design. But men may plant with pleasure and intelligence even when they have not this high creative faculty. To secure a collection of shrubs chosen for striking habit, or profuse flowering, or because they are curious and rare, or simply because they are vegetable anomalies, whose merit consists in blanched or spotted or highly colored foliage, may not be an unworthy ambition. And since the col- lector's regard is for individual plants, he is not to be criticized if in his arrange- ment of them his only aim is to show each one to the best advantage, without any regard to the effect which they produce when taken together. It is safe to say, however, that anyone fails to get the highest possible enjoyment out of horticulture unless he recognizes some definite system under which he selects and arranges his plants. I
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