ACCUMULATING A GARDEN 79 



One more east border, the longest of all, an- 

 other year; the addition of some small ones, mak- 

 ing sixteen altogether, and experience piled upon 

 experience that is the rest of the story. Maybe 

 it is not yet a garden that has been accumulated, 

 but it illustrates a principle even if it is no more 

 than an aggregation of loosely related hardy bor- 

 ders. 



The cost? Not a great deal more than the labor 

 of two hands in leisure hours. The small expense 

 for purchased plants and seed was scarcely missed 

 because of its distribution through the years, while 

 the amount of money paid out for hired help 

 was so slight as to be practically negligible. As 

 the garden stands today, it would take hundreds 

 of dollars to duplicate the plants, let alone the ex- 

 pense of planning and planting if these were done 

 by a professional. 



And the pleasure of it. In all of flower garden- 

 ing there is nothing more charming than this gath- 

 ering with the years and learning with the years. 

 You never get to the end, of course. But who 

 wants to? A garden is not made to be finished 

 within the span of any one human life unless, 

 perchance, it is the decree of wealth that it shall 

 be. It is something of cumulative growth some- 

 thing that expands with its age and the age of 

 the one whose hand has shaped and reshaped it 

 and who always secretly hopes that when he is gone 

 there shall be no cessation of expansion. 



