18 HORTICULTURE LECT. i 



One of the most gratifying features in connection 

 with soil cultivation, especially in its most advanced 

 aspects, known as gardening, is that the pleasures 

 and benefits accruing are in no sense measurable by 

 the extent of the operations. 



Thousands of small plots of ground could be in- 

 dicated varying in size from the eighth of an acre 

 to upwards of an acre, which are even more prized by 

 the tillers than are some of the greatest gardens in 

 the land by their opulent proprietors. 



That is a very pleasant fact, and affords the best 

 of all reasons for enabling every man to have a plot 

 of land who is willing and able to till it profitably 

 where land is to be had on equitable terms. This 

 affords him an opportunity for striving to excel as a 

 cultivator, and in accordance as he succeeds will he 

 become contented in his home ; and the example he 

 sets to his family, and to the less thrifty persons 

 around him, cannot fail to be beneficial in its ten- 

 dency. 



It cannot be too strongly enforced that it is not 

 the land which gives the increase, but the men who 

 till it. It is their efforts, conducted on right lines, 

 that give to the earth its producing power, and the 

 source of this power may be traced to the twin agents 

 of cleanliness and fertility. Work the land well, 

 feed it well, keep it clean, then and then only will 

 it reward the cultivator with bountiful crops ; or to 

 put the case in motto form easy^ to be remem- 

 bered : 



Fertility of the soil with freedom from 

 weeds is the secret of success in high cul- 

 tivation. 



It does not follow that soft weeds, such as groundsel, 

 that spring up late in the season after the useful 



