COMMON SENSE IN GARDENING 117 



not a natural process. There are very few plants that 

 in most gardens can be supplied with exactly the 

 conditions of their natural homes; and the aim of 

 horticulture is to compensate for the lack of these 

 conditions by artificial means. The skilful gardener, 

 when he has observed the natural conditions of a 

 plant, will always translate them, so to speak, into 

 garden terms, when he proceeds to make use of his 

 observations. He knows that most plants, fortunately, 

 have a considerable power of adaptation to artificial 

 conditions; but he knows, also, what are usually the 

 limits of that power, and what artificial conditions are 

 necessary to compensate for the lack of natural ones. 

 Take, for instance, the case of manure, which is mainly 

 an artificial aid to the growth of plants, and which, 

 therefore, is used as a substitute for natural con- 

 ditions and often as an improvement on them. Farm- 

 yard or stable manure has more than one use. It is 

 both a plant-food and a means of protection against 

 drought. Now, there are many plants that like man- 

 ure as a food; but there are also many, particularly 

 among bulbs, that do not need it as a food but like 

 it as a protection against drought. For such plants 

 manure will be unnecessary where they are in no danger 

 of suffering from drought. In a garden that lies low 

 or has a heavy soil few bulbs need manure; in a gar- 

 den that is high and dry many are the better for it. 

 But manure, where it is used only as a protection 

 against drought, must be applied much more cau- 

 tiously than where it is used as a plant food, partic- 



