OUR MOUNTAIN GARDEN 



seek to follow far those devious paths by 

 which, I am told, the ingenious masculine 

 mind persuades a tree to grow with its 

 roots in the air and its branches in the 

 ground, I think the best results are 

 achieved by only a sparing use of the 

 knife and shears. For one must know the 

 how and why of pruning before one begins 

 to snip, or one will cut off things that it 

 will take nature a long time to replace. I 

 admit, however, that the temptation is irre- 

 sistible, when knife and shears are sharp, 

 and one is in an idle mood and does not 

 feel like work, and I know I cut off many 

 a good shoot every summer that ought to 

 have been let alone, not to speak of the 

 slaughter of the innocents that I indulge 

 in every fall. For, strange to say, next to 

 seeing my garden grow, I enjoy cutting it 

 down again ! This is a contradiction hard 

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