38 TILLEKS OF THE GEOUND CHAP. 



be not only more beautiful and interesting than 

 the big garden, but also than any garden that had 

 ever existed. What he specially thought of doing, 

 he said, was to go out into the country and get 

 beautiful plants for himself. He was not just 

 going to sow seeds out of packets, or beg slips from 

 the gardener ; he would go out into the wide world 

 and choose for himself the best, and bring his finds 

 with triumph into his own little plot. 



He was only seven years old, so one would not 

 wish to discourage him, but we, who are older, 

 know that when he has brought primroses and 

 hyacinths and forget-me-nots from the woods, roses 

 and honeysuckle and guelder-rose from the hedges, 

 daisies and poppies and cornflowers from the fields, 

 and even strawberries and rasps and wild goose- 

 berries from the waste ground, he has only done 

 what the gardeners have been doing for generations, 

 and that it would have been wiser and more 

 prudent in the long run simply to take advantage 

 of their work, and not try to do it all over* 

 again. We know that there is not a flower or a 

 shrub or a tree in this country which people have 

 not tried to cultivate. We might even go further 

 and say that there are now very few plants in the 

 world that some one has not tried to cultivate, or at 

 least has not made sure to be not worth cultivation. 



It is possible that new and useful plants may 



