6 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



roses set on a hill crest is a folly. Much more likely 

 would they be to thrive wholly on the north side of it. 

 A garden set in a cut between hills that form a natural 

 blowpipe can at best do no more than hold its own, 

 without advancing. 



But there are some things that belong to the 

 never-never land and may not be done here. You 

 may plant roses and carnations in the shade or in 

 dry sea sand, but they will not thrive ; you cannot keep 

 upland lilies cheerful with their feet in wet clay; you 

 cannot have a garden all the year in our northern lati- 

 tudes, for nature does not; and you cannot afford to 

 ignore the ways of the wind, for according as it is kind 

 or cruel does it mean garden life or death ! 



" Men, they say, know many things ; 

 But lo, they have taken wings, 

 The arts and sciences, 



And a thousand appliances; 

 The wind that blows 



Is all that anybody knows. " 



THOREAU. 



