The Spirit of Creative Gardening 119 



is less acid than the common varieties, one that matures 

 more quickly, thus escaping the early and late frosts 

 (for the tomato is a delicate plant) is to make garden- 

 ing an almost exciting adventure. So it is with the 

 whole range of production. The adventure goes on to 

 the dinner-table, when the new products are served to 

 one's friends. And if there is a little surplus for mar- 

 ket, and the product is sufficiently superior to bring a 

 few cents more per pound than the common varieties, 

 the adventure culminates in a deep sense of satisfaction. 

 There is a principle here that reaches far, and is truly 

 creative. 



I am thinking as I write of one small home at Palo 

 Alto, California, which admirably illustrates this prin- 

 ciple, and its influence upon owner and neighbors. 



George Hobden had a lot 50x1121/ 2 feet; in all 5,625 

 square-feet — about one-seventh of an acre. The house 

 occupied 1,225 square-feet; the area for walks and 

 driveway 1,825 square-feet; and the rabbit house 500 

 square-feet; so the vacant space left for cultivation was 

 only 2,075 square-feet ; and yet he had room for 22 fruit 

 trees, some of them seven years old, and in full bear- 

 ing; and for a good garden. His total investment for 

 land, house and improvements was no more than $2,700. 

 But this was made possible because he had done much 

 of the work himself. 



During his boyhood days in England Mr. Hobden 

 learned the art of training trees to grow on walls or 

 trellises like grapevines. This enabled him to economize 

 space. He also adopted the method of scientific graft- 

 ing of several fruits upon a single stock, so that start- 

 ing with a peach-tree, he had branches producing apri- 



