AN ISLAND GARDEN 27 



(Eschscholtzid), which do best in a poor soil. Or 

 of Pansies, Give them the richest earth you can 

 find, no end of water, and partial shade. Or, Don't 

 worry over drought for your Nasturtiums ; they 

 come from Chile and will live and thrive with less 

 water than almost anything else that grows; 

 don't trouble yourself to enrich the ground for 

 them; that makes them profuse and coarse of 

 leaves and sparing of flowers ; leave them to shift 

 for themselves, once having cleared them of 

 weeds. No flower bears neglect so well. Or, 

 Give your Zinnias a heavy soil; they like clay. Or, 

 Keep Sweet Peas as wet as you can and make the 

 ground for them as rich as possible. Or, Keep 

 barn manure away from your Lilies for your life ! 

 they will not brook contact with it, but a rich 

 soil they also like, only it must be made so by 

 anything rather than stable manure, and they, 

 too, like clay ; they blossom best when it is given 

 them. But transport to your garden a portion of 

 the very barnyard itself in which to set Roses, 

 Sunflowers and Hollyhocks, Honeysuckles and 

 Dahlias. Hints of this kind would be to the unac- 

 customed tiller of the soil simply invaluable. How 

 much they would lessen failures and discourage- 

 ments ! And to learn these things by one's self 

 takes half a lifetime of sad experience. 



To return to our planting. Yes, the sowing of 

 a seed seems a very simple matter, but I always 

 feel as if it were a sacred thing among the mys- 

 teries of God. Standing by that space of blank 

 and motionless ground, I think of all it holds for 

 me of beauty and delight, and I am filled with 



