GARDENING BY M YSELF. \ \ 3 



It is a time for the constant doing of little 

 things, this flowery month of June. The 

 grand spring planning is over, passing fast 

 into results testing its excellence. So also 

 with the spring planting — its bright antici- 

 pations, its many hopes. The days, as they 

 roll on, say pleasantly : " Nous avons chang^ 

 tout cela r' What is left ? What has come 

 out of it all ? 



To begin with, let me say that it is too 

 soon yet for our gardens to be new editions, 

 in many-coloured bindings, of " Great Ex- 

 pectations Realized." You must give even 

 the most industrious and well-intentioned 

 flowers time. Is it nothing, think you, to 

 elaborate such wonderful tints and forms 

 from the colourless air and the dull, brown 

 earth ? nothing, to arrange and perfect such 

 a system of roots ? nothing, to assimijate all 

 that a plant can, of sunshine and rain and 

 dew ? How long does it take you to grow 

 to perfection by that same process of (men- 

 tal) assimilation ? 



Therefore do not try to hurry your plants 

 10* 



