4 6 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



ness or thinness of its covering, you may learn the neces- 

 sities of its planting and development, for nowhere more 

 than in the seed is shown the miraculous in nature and 

 the forethought and economy of it all. 



The smaller the seed, the greater the yield to a flower, 

 as if to guard against chances of loss. The stately fox- 

 glove springs from a dust grain, and fading holds aloft 

 a seed spike of prolific invention ; the lupin has stout, 

 podded, countable seeds that must of necessity fall to the 

 ground by force of weight. Also in fingering the seeds, 

 you will know why some are slow in germinating : these 

 are either hard and gritty, sandlike, like those of the 

 English primrose, smooth as if coated with varnish, 

 like the pansy, violet, columbine, and many others, 

 or enclosed in a rigid shell like the iris-hued Japanese 

 morning-glories and other ipomeas. Heart of Nature 

 is never in a hurry, for him time is not. What matters 

 it if a seed lies one or two years in the ground ? 



With us of seed beds and gardens, it is different. 

 We wish present visible growth, and so we must be 

 willing to lend aid, and first aid to such seeds is to give 

 them a whiff of moist heat to soften what has become 

 more hard than desirable through man's intervention. 

 For in wild nature the seed is sown as soon as it ripens, 

 and falls to the care of the ground before the vitality 



