THE SPRING AWAKENING 159 



If time permitted, we might visit such gardens as these 

 day after day; some pathetic, some humorous, most inspiring, 

 all worth the while. There are gardens of girls as well as 

 of boys; girls in the slums who can hardly afford a couple of 

 penny packets of seeds, and girls who are free to delight in 

 lilies and other bulbs of high cost in their own home plots. 

 Enough have been seen here, however, to impress the general 

 conclusion that in home gardening, as in all life, where there's 

 a will there's a way. Every youth must study his own home 

 conditions and resources, and after choosing the plan of work 

 most practicable for him, then persist with this plan until 

 it is realized. 



THE SPRING AWAKENING 



No season is so welcome to the owner of a garden as is the 

 spring. The disappearance of the snow, the coming of the 

 birds, the tasselling of the alders are doubly precious, because 

 they foretell that thawing of the ground which shall enable 

 us once more to delve in it for happiness and profit. It is 

 like a perpetual renewing of youth, for the garden promises 

 are always fair to think upon, and in the seed we plant we 

 always see a finer harvest than in the crop we gather. Yet, 

 herein lies much of the delight of gardening; it gives us op- 

 portunity to hope for the fruition of things unseen. For hope 

 is life, and when we can no longer hope, life is no longer 

 worth the living. 



The wise gardener studies his conditions to learn what 

 crops may be planted to advantage as soon as the soil can be 

 worked, thus prolonging his season of out-door activity, and 

 perhaps his season of crop gathering. It is a time-honored 

 saying that when the bluebirds come one should begin to 



