CHAPTER IV 

 THE SOCIAL SIDE OF GARDENS 



THE art of using a garden is hardly to be ac- 

 quired in a moment; it is far more difficult 

 than learning how to make one! But it is 

 well worth the studying, for a properly used garden 

 is capable of yielding an infinite amount of pleas- 

 ure. Let the social charm of the garden once come 

 to be felt and it grows to be indispensable; the pos- 

 sessor of so much as an acre of ground will not rest 

 until he has his own, with its individual excellencies and 

 possible makeshifts, but at least entirely his. 



For though privacy is essential to a garden, it does 

 not take great space to secure this primal necessity. It 

 is by no means the few large places that count: it is the 

 many little ones; the small places transformed into a 

 sweet and intimate personal possession to be shared with 

 one's friends, where the flower of social intercourse may 

 be cherished quite as carefully as its fragrant sisterhood 

 of the beds and borders. Discrimination is an im- 

 portant attribute of character that develops slowly, both 

 in individuals and communities. In America it has not 



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