A GARDEN DIARY 47 



by the logic of facts, and by the realities of the 

 situation, forced slowly to retreat, as other and 

 equally eminent strategists have been forced 

 before us. A flowery wilderness is delightful, 

 but unless its owner is content with the flowers 

 that grow in it by nature, or a few, very cautious 

 additions, his flowery wilderness is apt after a 

 time to become a wilderness, minus the flowers. 

 Then perhaps a reaction sets in. A sense of 

 failure gradually overtakes the too ardent 

 amateur. The reins of authority drop more and 

 more listlessly from his hands ; until at last he 

 lets them fall altogether, and, with a smile of 

 kindly pity, the momentarily dispossessed pro- 

 fessional once more resumes full, and henceforth 

 undivided sway. 



From so humiliating a finale may all the kindly 

 divinities that watch over gardens deliver our- 

 selves ! Nevertheless there have been moments 

 when such a fate has seemed to draw near, and 

 even to look one in the eyes. Only three days 

 ago I was engaged in that breathless struggle 

 with the bracken. For the last two, aided by 

 Cuttle and his assistant, I have been fighting 

 ankle-deep against a perfect forest of couch- 

 grass, which had practically overwhelmed the 

 whole of our nursery-garden, helped rather than 

 hindered by the fence, with which we had inno- 

 cently hoped to keep back, not alone rabbits, but 

 every other trespasser. 



