CHAPTER III 

 WOMEN AND GARDENS 



HARLES DUDLEY WARNER, in 

 his charming little book, My Sum- 

 mer in a Garden, which I always, 

 rightly or wrongly, look upon as the 

 pioneer among the more recent light garden lit- 

 erature, perhaps because it was the first book of 

 its kind I read, now a good many years ago, says : 

 " Woman always made a muss in a garden." It 

 is quite clear he can not have read Elizabeth, 

 Miss Jekyll, or Mrs. Earle, or he could never 

 have made such a statement without naming his 

 exceptions. I am sure no one can say those 

 ladies made a " muss," whatever that may be, 

 in a garden. 



I suppose Mr. Warner refers to our mother 



Eve, who undoubtedly flirted with the serpent, 



while he was probably handsome and walking 



erect before his curse; but after all, Eve's con- 



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