26 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



began to jot down name and quantity, and then, stop- 

 ping, said : " No, you must write it out as the first record 

 for The Garden, You, and I. I make a motion to that 

 effect." As I was about to protest, the postman brought 

 some letters, one being from Mary Penrose, to whom 

 Mrs. Cortright stands as aunt by courtesy. I opened 

 it, and spreading it between us we began to read, so 

 that afterward Lavinia declared that her motion was 

 passed by default. 



"WOODRIDGE, April 30. 

 "Mv DEAR MRS. EVAN, 



"I am going into gardening in earnest this spring, 

 and I want you and Aunt Lavinia to tell me things, 

 things that you have done yourselves and succeeded or 

 failed in. Especially about the failures. It is a great 

 mistake for garden books and papers to insist that there 

 is no such word in horticulture as fail, that every flower 

 bed can be kept in full flower six months of the year, in 

 addition to listing things that will bloom outdoors in 

 winter in the Middle States, and give all floral measure- 

 ments as if seen through a telephoto lens. It makes 

 one feel the exceptional fool. It's discouraging and 

 not stimulating in the least. Doesn't even nature 

 meet with disaster once in a while as if by way of 



