My New Zealand Garden 35 



big a new plant will grow, and it gets put into the 

 wrong spot and has to be moved, sometimes 

 unnecessarily, for fear it should not thrive in the 

 first spot ; and I know one gentleman who moved 

 his Gerbera to death. Now, this new profes- 

 sional gentleman, who I suppose would be called 

 garden doctor or expert, or something to that 

 effect, might have saved the life of that plant, 

 price 35. 6d., and its owner much tribulation. 

 I don't know what sort of fee would be forth- 

 coming for his services, and fresh air would not 

 fill his pocket sufficiently ; but he would find the 

 occupation a wholesome panacea for his frequent 

 infirmities, I am sure. A lady in England told 

 me that keeping fowls was the panacea for all 

 worries. She had purchased a hundred, the 

 incubator was on its way, and she was going to 

 manage them all herself, and reap no end of profit. 

 But I am afraid she must have found the panacea 

 worse than the worries even with the 'profits' 

 added on. 



' Chacun a son gout? she would say to me when 

 I was still in England. ' What can you find to do 

 in the garden ?' It was a puzzling question, for 

 whatever I did in that garden, there was always 

 someone who could do it better and had plenty 

 of time to do it in. If I raked a border, ' he who 

 could do it better ' was sure to come by, and as he 

 passed I could hear little grunts, which, being 



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