198 A GARDEN KALENDAR 



He was glad to distribute, willing to communicate. He re- 

 joices to send specimens of his best fruit to the Lord-keeper, 

 to his brother Benjamin in London, and a portmanteau of 

 perennials to his brother Harry at Fyfield. These recipients, 

 we may be sure, were all as grateful as Brother Tom, who 

 sent him in acknowledgment a ten-gallon cask of raisin 

 wine ; and such souvenirs and reciprocities are specially 

 appreciated by us gardeners in our interchange of flowers 

 and fruits. 



Let us listen now to this great teacher of natural 

 theology. We shall not learn much about horticulture, 

 and it would be a vain conceit to criticise his simple 

 methods and frequent failures after a progress of one 

 hundred and fifty years and all our acquisitions of practical 

 experience, cheap glass, heating apparatus, imports, and 

 hybridisation ; but we may acquire from these records and 

 from his example far more precious instructions how to 

 prevail by a brave perseverance, overcoming evil with good, 

 and above all, not to restrict our thoughts and admirations, 

 when we are in our gardens, to the culture or the beauty 

 of our plants, but to study with reverent inquiry all the 

 wonderful surroundings, all that reveals to us through the 

 eye and ear God's infinite power and love. 



S. REYNOLDS HOLE. 



THE DEANERY, ROCHESTER, 

 November 1899. 



