56 THE ENGLISH FLOWER GARDEN. 



interest in our task. It is really no paradox to 

 say, that it is fortunate that gardening should 

 be always more or less of a struggle, for the very 

 struggle, as should always happen, has the element 

 of pleasure about it. Each year there will be 

 success on one side, if something of failure on 

 another. And there are always difficulties 

 enough. There are difficulties arising from bad 

 seasons, from climate, or from soil. There are 

 weeds that worry, and seeds that fail. There are 

 garden pests of every variety. The mice nibble 

 away the tulip-bulbs : the canker gets into the 

 rosebud, and the green fly infests the rose. Wire- 

 worms destroy the roots of tender annuals, and 

 slugs breakfast upon their sprouting leaves. 

 Moles and birds and caterpillars have each and 

 all their peculiar plans for vexing the gardener's 

 heart. Then again certain plants are attacked by 

 special diseases of their own. The gladiolus turns 

 yellow and comes to nothing, and a parasitic 

 fungus destroys the hollyhock. And yet, if there 

 were no difficulties to contend against, no fore- 

 thought to be exercised, no ingenuity to be 



