THE GARDEN WEEK BY WEEK 



Oct. as a result of your skilled pruning, wonderful store- 

 houses in the form of buds that are packed with leaves, 

 stems, blossoms, and fruit, all to come forth in their 

 season. 



There is no such thing as a dreary countryside or a 

 depressing garden. These evil visions are the offspring 

 of ill-balanced, untrained minds. One of the most lovely 

 and satisfying things in nature is an expanse of down- 

 land on the heart of a winter night, seen in shadow- 

 glimpses as the clouds race each other past the 

 moon. And the happiest moments of happy lives 

 are those spent in clearing vegetable debris from fading 

 beds, and turning the rich brown earth in readiness 

 for the bulbs and plants which are to welcome the 

 spring. 



October and November are splendid garden charac- 

 ters. They want understanding, but they are worth 

 studying. Do we feel the most interested in those of 

 our acquaintances who are the most elementary and 

 obvious ? I think not. If their beauty is only " skin- 

 deep," they tend to bore us after a time. There are no 

 depths to be probed, no elusive clues to be followed up, 

 no difficulties of comprehension to stimulate us. In 

 autumn we have it given to us to touch the bedrock 

 of gardening success. We can take such portion of 

 mother Earth as is under our influence, and by the 

 exercise of our own personal handiwork double its pro- 

 ductiveness. Is not that a great thought ? Does it not 

 fill us with inward stirrings, with ardent resolves ? Does 

 not the very reflection give us grit and backbone ? And 

 do we not feel that we see all life in a new light ? 

 The simple philosophy of the garden widens all our 

 outlook, gives us new hopes, new interests, and new 

 knowledge. 



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