ACCUMULATING A GARDEN 75 



him a garden joy that otherwise he might be ignor- 

 ant of even now. 



The moment desire was known, neighbors of- 

 fered of their garden treasures. So a start was 

 made by going after these offerings in April. In- 

 cluding some shrubs, they were numerous enough 

 to fill up the extended bulb bed and a new triangu- 

 lar, half-shaded border that had been dug where 

 two paths met on the other side of the house. 

 There was even enough, with gifts that followed in 

 May, to fill a dozen or more short rows in an 

 improvised border in the rear of the house; every- 

 thing separable was divided, some plants making 

 three or four. This bed, unconsciously rather than 

 by intent, became a nursery. 



Later, seed of a dozen kinds of perennials and 

 biennials, one packet of each, was purchased. This 

 was sown, in shallow boxes, on the very first day 

 of August strictly according to rule. There was 

 a good stand, which was thinned out where too 

 abundant, and in due time a great number of seed- 

 lings was transplanted, in a cleared end of the 

 vegetable patch the more delicate ones in a home- 

 made coldframe and the remainder in rows by the 

 side of it. When the time came for covering them 

 up for the winter there was a lot of lusty plants, 

 though smaller than the one most interested had 

 hoped to have at that particular stage of the pro- 

 ceedings. 



The end of the first season did not see much of 

 a garden, to be sure; any one might protest with 



