CHAPTER V 



MAY MORNS 



May It has been my endeavour to prepare the reader gently 

 for certain little trials in gardening. I have let fall words 

 of warning about insects and fungi — about slugs and 

 aphides, mildew and caterpillars. The fact that nature 

 puts certain obstacles in the path of the amateur must be 

 made known, but not with violence. The spring days 

 are fair, the flowers are sweet, the long nights are full of 

 soft lights, why speak of troubles in so unguarded a way 

 as to give an exaggerated idea of their terrors ? 



When in the fragrant, blowy May morns the amateur 

 sees the trail of the slug among his seedlings, when 

 zigzags of mounds all over his lawn show that moles 

 have been at work, is he going to taste deeply of the iron 

 of sorrow ? No, he is going to find compensation in 

 the brilliant cups of his Tulips, in the rosy sheets of his 

 fruit blossom, in the sight of sturdy, purple Asparagus 

 shoots and the tender tint of young Peas. 



May is a month of development. The green of the 

 lawn is as soft as that of the Larches. The little 

 Stocks, and Phloxes, and Asters, and Lettuces are 

 moving rapidly. There is joyful promise of a happy 

 gardening year. Early morning in the garden is a 

 time of dehcious, invigorating air, of sweet smells, of 

 charming glimpses of ruddy tints in beds of Paeonies 

 and Tea Roses. We rise with the lark, and go forth 

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