GARDENING BY M YSELF. 2 I I 



the year's end. But if you plant right and 

 manage right ; if when the red and blue 

 glory of the flowers is departed you give 

 the green leaves their turn ; fostering them 

 with no less care, and giving them every 

 facility for perfecting their growth, that the 

 bulb also may mature and ripen ; then you 

 will have a rich reward for your trouble 

 and patience. Then you will find (as I have 

 done) your tulip roots growing larger in- 

 stead of smaller, from year to year. You 

 will find none to buy so large, none more 

 solid. Then, besides the little handful which 

 you can afford to get new every fall, you 

 will soon have roots by the basket, — enough 

 to fill all your spare places, and with some 

 to bestow upon rooms and gardens more 

 vacant, perhaps, than yours have ever been. 

 This is a great pleasure : to place a single 

 tuft of sweetness in a sick room ; to fur- 

 nish a bright glow of beauty for a room full 

 of nothing but toil ; a spot of freshness for 

 weary eyes ; a reminder of the Lord's good 

 hand for hearts bowed down with sadness. 



