-A Little Maryland Garden. 199 



There is a little English book by Harry 

 Roberts, written in the true spirit of a lover 

 of gardening, and at the end he sums up his 

 sentiments thus: 



From gardening I have obtained nothing but 

 pleasure— the little setbacks produced by weather 

 and other causes serving but to throw into 

 brighter relief the floral successes which would 

 otherwise be too monotonously sure. I have 

 plucked this infinite amoiint of pleasure from 

 a garden the least promising, thus showing that 

 (as in every other concern) the pleasure to be 

 gained is dependent more on our attitude than 

 on our conditions. — I am at least convinced that 

 a small garden can be made to yield fully as 

 much entertainment as a large one, and much 

 more than a garden which is too large for one's 

 personal management. 



Earlier in his book he produces this bit 

 of philosophy : " In gardening we may escape 

 from ourselves, and here, it seems to me, 

 lies its very greatest value — greater even than 

 its use in enabling us to escape from our 

 fellows" — reminding one of Andrew Mar- 



