156 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



days, while across the road was a mod- 

 ern garage filled with elaborate "ma- 

 chines." The persistent action of lawn 

 mowers gave certain parts of the prem- 

 ises the neat appearance of a man who 

 shaves every day. At the other side of 

 the dwelling was a tangled and enticing 

 profusion of trees, shrubs, native plants 

 and grasses that would urge a nature 

 study class into the hysterics of ec- 

 stacy. The Indians that centuries ago 

 roamed the hill enjoyed no more of the 

 primeval wildness. It was delicious , 

 in its tangled profusion it was ravish- 

 ing. 



fuss with me so much ; let me alone ; I 

 can do my best only when unhampered." 

 Why this territory was so guarded 

 and had so beautiful an appearance I 

 could better understand when later I 

 walked with its owner through his elab- 

 orately formal garden. He said, '"Yes, 

 this is beautiful as you say, but I 

 should like to make another with 

 nothing in it but weeds." I must con- 

 fess, plant lover as I am, that this was 

 a new idea. Abstractly and with the 

 enthusiasm of a botanist, I had often 

 lauded the beauty of weeds — but never 

 from the horticultural point of view. A 



"THE WHITE POND LILLIES BLOOMED IN A POND OF FRESH WATER." 

 ' Their pads floated to and fro as naturally as over the ooze of a muddy pond in the swamp. 



This decoration of nature in the wild 

 dared approach even to the vines that 

 overhung the edge of the road and the 

 steps leading to the house. But with all 

 its wildness and gracefully unkempt ap- 

 pearance, one felt instinctively that it was 

 cared for — more tenderly, more apprecia- 

 tively than any other part of the premises. 

 It was care not only loving but that most 

 appreciated by nature — that of being 

 guided yet practically let alone. Both 



nature and man have individual rights. 

 If Nature could speak, as this magazine 

 can speak for her, she would say, 'Don't 



garden for weeds ! The very words 

 seem to be antagonistic. I had known 

 of weeds left in many a garden through 

 sbiftlessness or a lack of time to re- 

 move them, but a garden deliberately 

 devoted to weeds ! I had never before 

 known my farming tastes and my bo- 

 tanical enthusiasms to come so seriously 

 into conflict. 1 had been content to let 

 them travel along side by side — but al- 

 ways, mind you, with a mental high 

 board fence between. It may shock, it 

 may cause a clash, but sometimes it does 



