2 PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF GARDENING [CH. 



strong people in the opportunity which gardening 

 affords them of measuring their strength against those 

 forces of Nature which are most hostile to the science 

 of horticulture. 



It is wonderful how much recreation, in its literal 

 sense, is brought about by all this ; the worries and 

 anxieties of the great busy world are forgotten in the 

 new interests of our little world of nature. 



There is another point that should not be over- 

 looked. Our work is likely to be a source of at least 

 as much help and gratification to others as to our- 

 selves. Some of our friends, whose own knowledge is 

 very limited, or who think they have no time or ability 

 for such work, can yet find a real pleasure in their 

 investigation of other people's gardens, just as they 

 would enjoy a private view in a friend's studio ; and 

 when these people cannot come to us by reason of the 

 distance, or because they are sick, what joy the receipt 

 of a box of violets by post gives, and the thought 

 which has suggested the gift is welcomed no less than 

 the fragrance. 



That which specially marks all work connected with 

 a garden is that there is much more practice than 

 theory connected with it ; and so, by using our hands 

 and eyes continually, we come to know things almost 

 by intuition. The important matter is that we take 

 means to increase this knowledge by reading other 

 people's experience, and asking questions of those who 

 know more than we do. Carlyle defined genius as 



