6 COME INTO THE GARDEN 



large or small. This is the truth that we ought 

 everyone to realize and be governed by. 



Yet it is not enough that we act upon an in- 

 stinct of self-preservation alone, since this would 

 induce each household to be merely food pro- 

 ducers — which is neither practicable nor desir- 

 able at this late day. The analogy holds, here 

 as elsewhere, between gardening and architec- 

 ture; since we go a great deal farther now than 

 to provide ourselves just with shelter — the bare 

 necessity — in our exercise of the art of building, 

 so we have arrived at a time when the finer as- 

 pects of the art of gardening must prevail. Our 

 one great difficulty in this connection, however, 

 is our tendency to disregard the early, real pur- 

 pose of it and to devote ourselves to the finer 

 aspects altogether; which is as if we built our 

 houses without roofs because roofs are less in- 

 teresting and decorative and generally appeal- 

 ing than side walls and doors and fenestration. 



The suggestion made by Bacon in his essay 

 on gardens has been quoted so often and univer- 

 sally that I long since foreswore its literal tran- 

 scription, yet it sums up so much of all that 

 there is to say introductory to the subject that 

 it is almost impossible to do without it! He was 

 so wholly right, and it is so true that, of the 

 twin arts of building and gardening, the latter 



