SB 



CHAPTER I 



I HAVE no hesitation in making the avowal 

 that I am blest with the craze for gardening 

 that solid, real, satisfactory occupation pointed 

 out to us from the very first and having worked 

 like a Spartan at my parcel of ground for nearly 

 twenty years, reducing spades, wheelbarrows, and 

 such-like lady-sized gardening paraphernalia to 

 atoms, I am tempted to recount some of the freaks 

 of the plants, myself, and others, especially on this 

 nurtured and revered spot of bad subsoil ' worse 

 than the riddlings o' the Creation,' as Sir Walter 

 Scott's gardener has it. 



To dress and keep our gardens is undoubtedly 

 a Divine injunction not to be neglected, and it 

 behoves us, f in gratitude to the Creator, to keep 

 our plots in order. Moreover, it is a significant fact 

 that such gardens seem to belong to respectability, 

 for I am sure those who have lived among the 

 poor in England can bear testimony that, as a 

 rule, the tidy garden folk are the best at sending 

 their children to school, paying their rent, clean- 



i 



824253 



