A GARDEN DIARY 13 



passed away. This then seems to be an ap- 

 propriate moment for inaugurating a sort of 

 running commentary upon the garden and its 

 surroundings ; setting forth what the spade 

 has already done, and what the spade has still 

 to do ; what we possess in the way of plants, 

 and what we still visibly lack ; laying bare 

 above all our failures and blunderings in the 

 clearest of colours, with an eye, it is to be 

 hoped, to their rectification. Such a record, 

 honestly kept, must be a highly improving one 

 to look back upon. A man's proper short- 

 comings, writ out fair in black and white, should 

 contain very edifying reading for that man him- 

 self, whatever it might be for anyone else. The 

 worst is that, like other amended sinners, we 

 may come to burn in time with the zeal of the 

 missionary. Not content with our own private 

 flagellations and exhortations, we may sigh to 

 exhort and to flagellate others. Hence doubtless, 

 that vast and increasing host of garden books, 

 which so greatly decorate our bookshelves. 



Yet after all a garden is a world in minia- 

 ture, and, like the world, has a claim to be 

 represented by many minds, surveying it from 

 many sides. If it takes all sorts to make a 

 world, it must take a good many varieties of 

 gardeners to exhaust the subject of gardening. 

 Assuming the said gardener to be of the right 

 sort, naturally we accept his exhortations thank- 



