60 OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES. 



ly taught, and who can place upon your table every 

 day the freshest and crispest of the vegetables and 

 fruits of the season, leaving you no care, but the care 

 of bills for superphosphates and trenching. If you 

 stroll into his domain of the garden, take your walk- 

 ing-stick or your pipe there, if you choose but never 

 a hoe or a pruning knife. Joke with him, if you like, 

 but never advise him. Take measure of his fitness by 

 the fruits he puts upon your table, the order of your 

 grounds, and the total of your bills. If these are 

 satisfactory keep him : if not, discharge him, as you 

 would a lawyer who managed your case badly, or a 

 doctor who bled or purged you to a sad state of 

 depletion. 



If, on the other hand, in establishing a country 

 home, you have a wish to identify yourself with its 

 growth into fertility and comeliness, in such sort that 

 you may feel that every growing shrub is a little 

 companion for you and yours every vine a friend 

 every patch of herbs, of vegetables, or of flowers, an 

 aid to the common weal and pleasures of home, in 

 which you take, and will never cease to take, a per- 

 sonal interest and pride if all this be true, and you 

 have as good as three hours a day to devote to per- 

 sonal superintendence then, by all means, forswear 

 all gardeners who come to you with great recom- 

 mendations of their proficiency. However just these 



