156 THE GARDEN, YOU, AND I 



things that is impressing us both, for after us the 

 Infant ! Until a year ago I had a positive dread of being 

 so firmly fixed anywhere that to spread wings and fly 

 here and there would be difficult, but now it seems 

 the most delightful thing to be rooted like the old apple 

 tree on the side hill, the last of the old orchard, that has 

 leaned against the upland winds so many years that it 

 is well-nigh bent double, yet the root anchors hold 

 and it is still a thing of beauty, like rosy-cheeked old 

 folk with snowy hair. I do not think that I ever 

 realized this in its fulness until I left the house and came 

 out, though but a short way, to live with and in it all. 



You were right in thinking that Barney would not en- 

 courage innovations, he does not ! He says that 

 turf lifted in summer always lies uneasy and breeds 

 worms. 



This seems to be an age for the defiance of horticultu- 

 ral tradition, for we are finding out every day that you 

 can "lift" almost anything of herbaceous growth at 

 any time and make it live, if you are willing to take pains 

 enough, though of course transplanting is done with 

 less trouble and risk at the prescribed seasons. 



The man-with-the-shovel question is quite a serious 

 one hereabouts at present, for the Water Company 

 has engaged all the rough-and-ready labourers for a long 



