THE AMATEUR GARDEN 



full moon shines up from it to the stone exedra 

 on the lawn, I seem to have taken my Praxitelean 

 curves so directly from Nature that she thinks 

 she took them herself from me and thanks me 

 for the suggestion. 



Please observe that of great gardens, or of 

 costly gardens whether great or only costly, we 

 here say nothing. Our theme is such a garden 

 as a householder may himself make and keep 

 or for which, at most, he needs professional 

 advice only in its first planning, and for its 

 upkeep one gardener, with one occasional helper 

 in pressing seasons or in constructional work. 



Constructional work. Dams, for example. In 

 two of my dams I built cores of concrete and 

 thus made acquaintance with that interesting 

 material. Later I pressed the acquaintanceship, 

 made garden and grove seats, a table or two, a 

 very modest fountain for a single jet of water in 

 my highest, smallest fish-pool, and even a flight 

 of steps with a pair of gaine-shaped pedestals — 

 suggested by a sculptor friend — at their top. 

 The exedra I mentioned just now is of concrete. 

 The stuff is a temptation to be wary of. The 



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