HARDY ? ' 



GARDENER' 



OLD PETER 



THERE are two words connected with the garden, 

 they belong to a big genus and in their frequent use 

 comprise many species. One is the word ' hardy.' 

 How it grasps within its long cold arms a great army 

 of the robust and strong, together with the tender, 

 delicate and weak ! How large is its embrace judged 

 by the plant catalogue, but alas ! how we mourn to 

 find many an isolated label ; a tombstone after a 

 severe winter, or perhaps, even more frequently, after 

 a mild and wet one. ' I am hardy anywhere ; ' ' almost 

 hardy, if ' ' I was hardy before that winter ; ' ' I shall 

 be hardy if planted in a protected spot;' 'perfectly 

 hardy, note, I winter under glass': we learn these 

 painful qualifications by experience. 



The other word is ' gardener.' How many claim 

 that distinction ; how few attain ! There is all the 

 difference in the world between 'a gardener' and 

 'a man about the garden,' the latter is common 

 enough. Dean Hole said 'He who would have 



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