CHAPTER IX 

 ACCUMULATING A GARDEN 



THOSE whose wealth is a perpetual Aladdin's 

 lamp have but to command a garden and it appears. 

 Infancy and childhood are annihilated in its crea- 

 tion; like Aphrodite goddess of gardens rising 

 from the sea, it is born mature. 



That is a legitimate enough game for princes and 

 potentates, whether royal, financial or industrial, 

 and it is a custom honored by at least a few thou- 

 sand years of observance. But, on the whole, it is 

 just as well that not more are in a position to in- 

 dulge in the game, or have hopes of ever being able 

 to do so. For the truth is that a garden is a great 

 deal like a library; you get infinitely more enjoy- 

 ment out of it when you accumulate it than when 

 you acquire it outright. 



All of the gardens that mean most to their 

 owners, the real home gardens, may be said to have 

 been gathered together just as a collection of 

 books is. There is a small beginning, perhaps a 

 very modest one indeed; the years add more plants 

 and for them more places are made. With the 

 years, too, comes the inevitable discarding of what- 



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