20 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



ened for almost all plants that do not demand full, 

 unalloyed sun, like the rose and pink families. 



Every year I am more and more surprised at the hints 

 that can be carried from the wild to the cultivated. 

 For instance, the local soil in which the native plants of 

 a given family flourish is almost always sure to agree 

 better with its cultivated, and perhaps tropical, cousin 

 than the most elaborately and scientifically prepared 

 compost. This is a matter that both simplifies and 

 guarantees better success to the woman who is her own 

 gardener and lives in a country sufficiently open for her 

 to be able to collect soil of various qualities for special 

 purposes. Lilies were always a very uncertain quantity 

 with me, until the idea occurred of filling my bed with 

 earth from a meadow edge where Lilium Canadense, 

 year after year, mounted her chimes of gold and copper 

 bells on leafy standards often four feet high. 



We may read and listen to cultural ways and methods, 

 but when all is said and done, one who has not a fat purse 

 for experiments and failures must live the outdoor life 

 of her own locality to get the best results in the garden. 



Then to have a woman friend to compare notes with 

 and prove rules by is a comforting necessity. No liv- 

 ing being can say positively, "I will do so and so ; " or 

 " I know," when coming in contact with the wise old earth ! 



