76 MY GARDEN 



kind. Then he must be cast out ; and when they 

 come for his character, his employer will say, 

 "Yes oh yes, Smithers a great man Smithers 

 he has it all in his head but unfortunately will keep 

 it there." 



Gardeners are fond of teaching, yet very few care 

 to learn. This trait, of course, is universal. If you 

 find a gardener who listens, and asks questions, and 

 seems not to know all you are telling him already, 

 endeavour to secure that man for your own. The 

 attitude of gardeners toward my white rockery is 

 instructive. Real gardeners are interested ; they show 

 me how I can improve it ; they doubt whether the 

 general angle is all that it should be. If they see 

 a plant that is new to them, they admit it quite 

 freely and are pleased ; they ask intelligent questions 

 about the native homes of the alpines and how Cape 

 bulbs survive English winters, and what tempts a 

 Zambesi gladiolus to flower in the open air when 

 I failed to make it do so under glass. They will 

 also admire and find beauty in the general scheme, 

 and even congratulate me and say they feel the better 

 for seeing what my gardener and I have done. This 

 is all very improving and comforting ; but little, 

 peddling gardeners, on the other hand, fly past the 

 things they know not of and fasten upon some flower 

 or shrub they happen to possess themselves. They 

 anchor beside this, and after they have exhausted 

 the trifling theme and casually mentioned that they 

 possess better specimens in their own two-penny-half- 

 penny gardens, they are surprised to find how the 



