PARSONAGE GARDENS— ^Z) CLERUAI 293 



though the love of flowers is so universal, and the 

 garden may be such a useful adjunct to the cottage, 

 yet there is very great ignorance of the right principles 

 of gardening, and the parson may be of great use to his 

 poorer neighbours, not only by teaching, but still more 

 by showing them better ways in his own garden. For 

 the parsonage garden gate should be always open, and 

 every parishioner welcomed ; there need be no fear of 

 any undue advantage being taken of the free permission 

 to enter — the one difficulty will be to induce them to 

 come in. And the parson may do much to brighten the 

 gardens of his parish, and so to increase the interest in 

 them by giving plants from his own garden. I have 

 for many years been a cultivator of hardy plants, and 

 have been able to gather together a large number of 

 species ; and I was long ago taught, and have always 

 held, that it is impossible to get or keep a large collec- 

 tion except by constant liberality in giving. 'There 

 is that scattereth, and yet increaseth,' was Solomon's 

 experience, and it certainly is so with gardening ; and 

 the parson who is liberal with his plants will find the 

 increase not only in the pleasant intercourse with his 

 neighbours, but also in the enlargement of his own 

 garden, which thus spreads beyond his own fences into 

 the gardens of the cottages. Some clergy can do more 

 than this by giving actual instruction in the wonders of 



