SOME GARDENERS I HAVE KNOWN 



HERE are as many motives in growing flowers as 

 there are reasons that take people into the coun- 

 try. A genuine passion for nature is seldom the 

 root of either. Frequently it is mere obedience to 

 convention. The "best people" are observed to do and to 

 have certain things, and thus it is recognized as the proper 

 thing to have orchards, well-kept grounds, a stable, a kennel 

 and a garden, and worshippers of convention buy them as 

 they do groceries, hire others to care for them, visit them 

 rarely, and have no personal relation with any one of them. 

 If an entertainment is to be given, the gardeners wheel in 

 their products, and the maids, or some poor relative, arrange 

 them; and a bushel or two left over gives no pang to the mis- 

 tress; the surplus is a gratifying proof of the prodigal yield 

 of the estate. 



" God Almightie first planted a Garden. And indeed, it is 

 the Purest of Humane pleasures. It is the Greatest Refresh- 

 ment to the Spirits of Man; without which, Buildings and 

 Pallaces are but Groose Handy-works; And a Man shall ever 

 see, that when Ages grow to Civility and Elegancie, Men come 

 to Build Stately, sooner than to Garden Finely," says Bacon. 

 Then there are those who have a barbaric love of color 

 masses of it and whether their flowers are in the ground, or 

 crowded into fat round bowls, they present solid sheets of 

 color. As far as esthetic effects go they might as well spread 

 yards of Turkey red calico or large flowered prints upon the 

 ground. But this is their taste, and thus do they express it. 



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