MY OWN ACRE 



with how Httle, if for the doing you take time 

 instead of money. All things come to the gar- 

 den that knows how to wait. Mine has acquired 

 at leisure a group of effects which would have 

 cost from ten to twenty times as much if got 

 in a hurry. Garden for ten-year results and get 

 them for next to nothing, and at the same time 

 you may quicken speed whenever your exchequer 

 smiles broadly enough. Of course this argu- 

 ment is chiefly for those who have the time 

 and not the money; for by time we mean play 

 time, time which is money lost if you don't 

 play. The garden that gives the most joy, "Joy- 

 ous Gard," as Sir Launcelot named his, is not to 

 be bought, like a Circassian slave; it must be 

 brought up, like a daughter. How much of life 

 they can miss who can buy whatever they want 

 whenever they want it ! 



But I tell first of my own garden also because 

 I believe it summarizes to the eye a number of 

 primary book-rules, authoritative *'don'ts," by 

 the observance of which a multitude of amateur 

 gardeners may get better results than it yet 

 shows. Nevertheless, I will hardly do more than 



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