122 GA RDENING B Y M YSELF. 



course where the seed is ornamental, and 

 the plant grown chiefly for that, these words 

 do not apply. Honesty (lunaria) must not 

 be shorn of its dead flower stems, and the 

 ornamental gourds must be left to perfect 

 their fruit. But as a general thing you 

 never need fear to pick your flowers with 

 the greatest freedom ; you will have all the 

 more left. It is the very way to make them 

 bloom, a friend of mine used to say ; and 

 she was one famous both for picking and 

 having. It holds good in many, depart- 

 ments, from the days of Bunyan down : 



" There was a man (though some did count him mad). 

 The more he cast away, tht- more he had." 



And so while some plants — and people — 

 live a stinted, dry, bloomless life, others, 

 through constant imparting of their riches, 

 are all blossom and fragrance. " They shall 

 still bring forth fruit in old age ; they shall 

 be fat and flourishing." 



You can if you choose leave a few pods 

 for seed, if you wish to save your own. 



