174 A Little Maryland Garden 
growth that it suggests a new plan for cov- 
ering the house wall. There is the pleasure, 
too, of the falling leaves and the work they 
give. They drift so lazily through the soft 
air that you wonder what faint breath de- 
tached them. The lawn is covered with 
them, rustling underfoot; and there is the 
sort of play-at-work of raking them up on 
still afternoons, enjoying the excuse they 
give for being out of doors, and realising the 
passing year. Now one begins to make the 
dead-leaf pile, hoarding up the crisp leaves. 
It gives one quite a feeling of wealth to 
look at the stored maple leaves, full of the 
sunshine and sap of a year, that mellowed 
by time will make the choicest food for 
plants. Only one other sight can make the 
gardener feel so opulent; the compost heap, 
as carefully compounded as a plum-pudding, 
and like the pudding representing a special 
treat in the way of food. 
The manure pile, the compost heap, and the 
store of leaf-mould are very satisfying sights 
to a gardener, and he loves them as well as 
