THE PRIVATE GARDEN 



the gardens, and many do; but children may not 

 themselves put gardens into the competition. 



*'If the head of the house is the gardener-in- 

 chief," shrewdly argued one of our committee, 

 "the children, oftener than otherwise, will gar- 

 den with him, or will catch the gardening spirit 

 as they grow up; but if the children are head- 

 gardeners we shall get only children's gardening. 

 We want to dispel the notion that flower-garden- 

 ing is only woman's work and child's play." 



Our rule against hired labor sets naturally a 

 maximum limit to the extent of ground a garden 

 may cover. Our minimum is but fifty square 

 yards, including turf, beds, and walks, and it 

 may be of any shape whatever if only it does 

 not leave out any part of the dooryard, front or 

 rear, and give it up to neglect and disorder. To 

 the ear even fifty square yards seems extensive, 

 but really it is very small. It had so formidable 

 a sound when we first named it that one of our 

 most esteemed friends, pastor of a Catholic 

 church in that very pretty and thrifty part of 

 Northampton called for its silk mills Florence, 

 generously added two supplementary prizes for 



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