104 STUDIES IN GARDENING 



will have to be avoided, or very sparingly used, by 

 the man who wishes to garden cheaply and who is 

 not prepared to spend a great deal of his own time 

 upon his garden. For him the labour problem will 

 be more difficult, perhaps, than even the problem of 

 stocking his garden; and yet both may be solved by 

 means of a little knowledge and discretion. 



In the first place, the man who wishes to have a 

 cheap garden must take the line of least resistance. 

 He must find out what plants grow well in his garden 

 naturally; and he must confine himself mainly to 

 these. If he lives on a light, sandy soil, he must not 

 grow plants that need much moisture and nourish- 

 ment, for it will cost him money to supply them. 

 If he lives on a stiff clay, he must avoid plants that 

 will only flourish in clay if it is lightened and made 

 porous with grit and leaf-mould. Directly he tries 

 to fight with nature he will find that his bill for labour 

 and for manure goes up. He must make it his object 

 to humour nature; and, if he is a true gardener, he 

 will find a peculiar pleasure and interest in doing 

 that. The rich man or the man who has plenty of 

 leisure may delight in overcoming nature; yet just as 

 much skill may be exercised by the gardener who is 

 busy and not rich in obeying her. But he must exer- 

 cise some self-denial; and in particular he must cure 

 himself of that itch for novelties which attacks all 

 keen gardeners at some time in their career, and from 

 which many never recover. Mr. Wright is inclined 

 to think that the love of novelties is a vulgar passion; 



