First Studies m Plant 

 Life, 



A WALK EOUND MY GAEDEN. 



This introductory chapter is meant for parents and teachers. 



1. As I walk round the garden on this fine morning, 

 I try to find out the secret of its charm. Much of the 

 charm cannot be put into words at all ; but here are 

 one or two reasons for the keen pleasure that it gives. 



2. My plants interest me because I have watched 

 them from seed to seed. I have sowed and thinned, 

 watered and planted; I have guarded them from 

 weeds and from slugs ; I have watched for the first 

 flower and wondered : Will it be white or pink ? 

 I have bent over them to see the bees at work, I 

 have shown them proudly to my friends ; and in doing 

 all this a part of my life has passed into these flowers. 



3. On the face of a garden Nature writes her 

 calendar as she writes it nowhere else. Month after 

 month inscribes its message on tree and plant ; nay, 

 in a well- stocked garden every week has its new 

 feature that tells the passage of the year to the lover 

 of flowers. There is a legend that the shade of 

 Linnaeus, on returning to his old garden from the 

 other world, guessed the date within seven days by 



