THE GARDEN WEEK BY WEEK 



July far better than he could do while lying in a comatose 

 state in a stuffy bedroom. His faculties will be bright 

 and clear. His mind will be stimulated. He will have 

 fresh and fruitful ideas. 



Gathering Flowers and Saving Seed 



Flowers should be gathered regularly and continu- 

 ously, and they should be gathered while they are still 

 young, partly because they are fresh, partly because of 

 the pleasure of seeing them expand in the house, partly 

 because seeding, which strains the plant, is anticipated. 

 It is in every way desirable to gather flowers ; it is good 

 for the grower, because his home is brightened, and it is 

 good for the plants. The loss of seed need not be 

 deplored. The great majority of amateurs will do better 

 to buy seed than to save their own. I do not believe 

 that it is economical to save seed at home, because I 

 think that most people can make much more profitable 

 use of their time. Calculate the time occupied in saving, 

 cleaning, and packing up threepenny worth of Tomato 

 seed. It is equivalent to writing a thousand words, and 

 your value with the publisher may be (I admit that it 

 may not) ten guineas per thousand. If you are not a 

 writer you may be a painter, or a musical composer, or 

 something else that renders your time valuable. I do 

 not suggest that all time which is devoted to gardening 

 should be calculated on a pounds, shillings, and pence 

 basis. I only do it in the case of seed saving, because 

 this appears to be generally done with the idea of saving 

 money. If not, what is the object ? To be sure of 

 perfectly fresh seed ? To perpetuate some particular 

 variety ? My reply to the first of these questions is that 

 seed bought from professional seedsmen is more likely 

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