SOILS. 71 



story — the muff, coming from his wicket with a second 

 cipher, and blaming the uneven ground, the ball which 

 " broke in " with a wild defiance of every natural law, and 

 baffled all that science knew ; the bad shot, whose '' beast 

 of a gun " is always on half-cock when the rare woodcock 

 comes, and on whose eyes the sun sheds ever his extra- 

 dazzling rays ; the bad rider, who '' never gets a start " 

 (nor wants one), and whose fractious horse " won't go near 

 the brook" at the very crisis of the run. 



The good gardener, on the contrary, the man whose heart 

 is in his work, makes the most of his means, instead of 

 wasting his time in useless lamentations. He knows that 

 this world is no longer Eden, and that only by sweat of 

 brow and brain can he bring flower or fruit to perfection. 

 '' Let me dig about it and dung it," he says of the sterile 

 tree ; knowing, as it was known when the words were 

 spoken, more than eighteen hundred years ago, that to 

 prune and to feed the roots is to reclaim and to restore, 

 wherever there is hope of restoration.* 



* The occasional lifting and tap-root pruning of standard Rose-trees is 

 beneficial, as a rule ; but exceptions should be made, when the growth of stock, 

 scion, and flower is vigorous, upon the excellent principle of letting well 

 alone. 



