THE GARDEN AT HOME 



spring ; but better that the beginner should go Daffodil- 

 and Tulip-less than be disheartened and disillusioned at 

 the outset. Let the garden call with its most alluring 

 voice, soft and caressing on the breath of spring ; then 

 shall it make irresistible appeal, and come with seduc- 

 tive beguiling. 



Yes, although it may be against the traditions, I shall 

 advise the reader, if he be a novice in gardening, to 

 plot and plan indoors while the winter lasts, and come out 

 of his shell in the spring. I am confident he will get more 

 fun out of it than the reckless beginner who feels that he 

 must, as the textbooks have it, dig the soil well in autumn, 

 throw it up in the form of trenches so that the frost, rain, 

 and snow, and all the other uncomfortable elements may 

 exert their influence upon it. The chances are that the 

 soil will be just as difficult as ever again in February, 

 and the digging will have to be done all over again. I 

 know of at least one professional gardener who considers 

 February to be the best month of all for digging and 

 trenching ; for, as he justly observes, if the land is at all 

 heavy, it will have to be redug in early spring, even if 

 trenched in autumn. Besides, it is much better for the 

 garden that it should be planned and replanned on paper 

 and in imagination before even a path is made ; for how 

 much more easily is it made than unmade I 



In plotting and planning first thoughts are not always 

 best. Perhaps the chief danger that confronts the fire- 

 side gardener is that he shall have every yard of ground 



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