16 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



I trust, to any code of ethics. If any defence were required, it 

 would merely be necessary to appeal to the derivation of 

 the word " garden " for a complete and overwhelming justifica- 

 tion. The dictionary gives " geard " (Anglo-Saxon) : " a yard, 

 or walled enclosure." Here we have the idea of ownership set 

 forth in its simplest and most direct form. It suggests seclusion, 

 quietude, freedom from prying eyes a refuge in which, secure 

 from unwelcome intrusion, its owner may at his will and pleasure 

 commune direct with Nature, and transform his " walled en- 

 closure," to quote the dictionary once again, into " a place, 

 particularly fruitful, well cultivated or delightful : a very pleasant 

 spot." 



Adam Smith, the father of British political economy, in his 

 " Wealth of Nations," says, cogently enough : " A gardener who 

 cultivates his own garden with his own hands, unites in his own 

 person the three different characters of landlord, farmer and 

 labourer." He is, therefore, the possessor, or at least the tenant, 

 of his plot of ground ; he is his own master, and his time is at his 

 own disposal. But if he be a true lover of gardening he will not 

 be satisfied to coquet with his hobby He will not regard it as 

 though it provided him merely with an occupation for his spare 

 moments during the bright days of spring and summer. He will 

 come to realise, with a sense of conviction that will increase as 

 season follows season with never-failing regularity, that gardening 

 is essentially an all-the-year-round pursuit. If a man cultivate 

 his own garden with his own hands he will find, as he makes 

 a closer and more diligent study of the requirements of his 

 trees, his vegetables and his flowering plants, that a new task 

 awaits him every day of the calendar year. 



Again, if we consider the influence of gardening upon the de- 

 velopment of character, we shall find that it stands pre-eminent 

 among all the occupations to which a man can set his hand. It 

 inculcates the virtues of patience, so that he comes to wait with 

 philosophic resignation for the fruit of his labour ; of determina- 

 tion and strength of will, so that he does not fall into the fatal error 

 of procrastination, but accomplishes the task that awaits him with 



