* Mo&cr (Swlen 



of candles to stick in a short-lived birthday cake, as 

 I planted roses in the abiding chocolate cake of the 

 ground. 



Of course every true gardener saves his own seed, 

 thereby gradually bringing all the different varieties 

 to greater perfection ; incidentally he may name these 

 self-developed brands after otherwise unfamed friends. 



Whenever there is a particularly eccentric or 

 beautiful color shown in a blossom I tie a tape about 

 it, and write its praise on the tape, so when the seed 

 is harvested a fickle memory need not be relied upon. 

 By saving each year the very darkest hollyhock of 

 the blackish variety, I finally achieved the actually 

 black flowers and had a chance to evidence my admi- 

 ration of a certain friend's hair (not her character) 

 by bestowing her name on the hollyhock. 



If a man has an extravagant wife who cannot 

 resist Irish lace robes when displayed on a lay-lady 

 in a department store window, he should just gently 

 lead her to the country, present her with two acres 

 of ground, or one and a half, introduce her to flower 

 catalogues and teach her to dig. She'll soon forget 

 even manicurists. It's the simplest general cure I 

 know for all feminine weaknesses. 



No woman once demoralized into a gardener ever 

 203 



