CHAPTER VII 



THE ART OF MAKING THINGS GROW 



Good tilth brings seeds ; 

 111 tilture, weeds. — Tupper 



The easy assurance of this phrase may possibly suggest a 

 get-rich-quick scheme, or a proprietary medicine. But we know 

 very well that the expert has learned by experience many a 

 short cut to successful gardening. Moreover, he is only too 

 glad to pass along his devices to any young gardener who 

 will stop long enough to listen. These devices sound trivial 

 enough in themselves, but they usually connect with some 

 established agricultural principle. They remind one of elec- 

 tric wires, which are of little use unless they can establish 

 connections with the central dynamo. 



Perhaps there is no time when a friendly hint is more ap- 

 preciated than when the first planting of one's first garden is 

 finished. The rush is over ; the seeds lie snugly tucked in 

 the ground ; and over the surface a thin blanket of dry earth 

 has been lightly spread. Taking a last look at his work, the 

 young gardener involuntarily draws a sigh of relief. This 

 says as plainly as words that he considers his part of the con- 

 tract fulfilled, and that now he depends upon Madam Nature 

 to do hers. This attitude is quite common to beginners ; we 

 are not all so frank, however, in acknowledging it as the young 

 girl who had been brimming with enthusiasm in getting her 

 garden under way, but who, a little later, wrote to a friend 

 that she had finished planting, and that since then there was 

 really nothing for her to do ; she was waiting for her plants 



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