ADVICE FOR LACKLAND 



you may lie down under the trees, and frolic 

 with your children, or smoke a pipe under your 

 vine, or clambering rose-tree at evening — find 

 a gardener who is thoroughly taught, and who 

 can place upon your table every day the 

 freshest and crispest of the vegetables and 

 fruits of the season, leaving you no care, but 

 the care of bills for superphosphates and 

 trenching. If you stroll into his domain of 

 the garden, take your walking-stick or your 

 pipe there, if you choose — but never a hoe or 

 a pruning knife. Joke with him, if you like, 

 but never advise him. Take measure of his 

 fitness by the fruits he puts upon your table, 

 the order of your grounds, and the total of 

 your bills. If these are satisfactory — keep 

 him: if not, discharge him, as you would a 

 lawyer who managed your case badly, or a 

 doctor who bled or purged you to a sad state 

 of depletion. 



If, on the other hand, in establishing a 

 country home, you have a wish to identify 

 yourself with its growth into fertility and 

 comeliness, in such sort that you may feel that 

 every growing shrub is a little companion for 

 you and yours — every vine a friend — every 

 patch of herbs, of vegetables, or of flowers, 

 an aid to the common weal and pleasures of 



