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MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



it must be built scientifically, that it must be drained, etc. Well ! 

 I have found that the best way to do in gardening is to listen to 

 what everyone has to say and then do as you have a mind to. 

 Yes, to be sure one makes many mistakes, but should never make 

 the same one twice. Truly the difference between anticipation 

 and realization is never more keenly realized than by the amateur 

 gardener. Well, to go back to the pool. I had to have it. I 

 had just reached a point that I could no longer endure without it. 

 I had a hole dug, between two slender cutleaf birches, oblong in 



"Lilac Lodge" in 1816 — eight years later. 



shape, about six feet by ten, and three feet deep. I superin- 

 tended this work, gaining in avoirdupois and spirituality all the 

 time. 



I used the dirt to fill in garden beds that had sunk away. I 

 had the hole filled in with about four inches of cinders, using two 

 bags of cement. I put a border of stones all around the pond, 

 dug a crescent-shaped bed around the back side of it, planted 

 dogwood and tamarix, also used wild ferns and candytuft and 

 "snow on the mountains," keeping all in white and green. I 

 filled the pool from the hydrant with my garden hose, and when 

 it became necessary to clean it I used the same hose to siphon it 

 out, took a broom to clean the bottom and then refilled. Three 

 times from spring to October is all that is necessary to empty the 

 pool. Little boys brought me minnows from the creek, that 

 sported and lived in happiness all summer, while the birds came 



