MANUAL OF GARDENING 



CHAPTER I 



THE POINT OF VIEW 



Wherever there is soil, plants grow and produce their kind, 

 and all plants are interesting; when a person makes a choice 

 as to what plants he shall grow in any given place, he becomes 

 a gardener or a farmer; and if the conditions are such that 

 he cannot make a choice,. he may adopt the plants that grow 

 there by nature, and by making the most of them may still be 

 a gardener or a farmer in some degree. 



Every family, therefore, may have a garden. If there is 

 not a foot of land, there are porches or windows. Wherever 

 there is sunlight, plants may be made to grow; and one plant 

 in a tin-can may be a more helpful and inspiring garden to some 

 mind than a whole acre of lawn and flowers may be to another. 



The satisfaction of a garden does not depend on the area, 

 nor, happily, on the cost or rarity of the plants. It depends on 

 the temper of the person. One must first seek to love plants 

 and nature, and then to cultivate the happy peace of mind that 

 is satisfied with little. 



In the vast majority of cases a person will be happier if he 

 has no rigid and arbitrary notions, for gardens are moodish, 

 particularly with the novice. If plants grow and thrive, he 

 should be happy; and if the plants that thrive chance not to 

 be the ones that he planted, they are plants nevertheless, and 

 nature is satisfied with them. 



