COMMON SENSE IN GARDENING 



GARDENING to the beginner seems to be all 

 an arbitrary mystery. Some plants want this, 

 he is told, and some that; and he can see no more 

 reason for the diversity of their wants than for the 

 diversity of their colours. He regards the expert 

 gardener as a kind of magician, as one who can make 

 all plants thrive by the very way in which he handles 

 them, and who knows by instinct what they want. 

 Now, it is quite true that the best gardeners do seem 

 to have a way of their own with plants, and that they 

 will often succeed with a plant they know nothing 

 about where an inferior gardener, less ignorant, would 

 fail. But they are not born with this gift. They are 

 only born with the qualities and interests that en- 

 able them to acquire it. The best gardeners are those 

 who love plants and who, therefore, are for ever look- 

 ing at them; who never pass a cottage garden with- 

 out peering into it, who are always learning some- 

 thing without effort or design in woods and meadows, 

 on moors and mountain sides. In this they are like 

 the born painter or like the poet in "How it Strikes 

 a Contemporary," who watched men for the love of 

 watching them. Without this kind of love there can 

 be no profound knowledge of anything. Taking notes 

 with an object is a useful practice, but it is not the 



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