CHAPTER XIII 



AUTUMN WORK IN THE GARDEN 



WHEN seasons are gentle, the days of summer 

 linger in a garden, loth to go, unwilling 

 to pass out before the crude hint of Jack 

 Frost is given. It seems then as if there were some- 

 thing more to do, — a few backward buds to mature, a 

 few seed pods to fill, an injured plant to restore, — 

 since a summer never leaves with all its work quite 

 done. The autumn steps in to complete this work; 

 and wise is the gardener who acknowledges its 

 entrance, even though he may regret the passing of 

 summer. 



In the early autumn days, a great deal of work can 

 be done in a garden. [I£ it is delayed through mis- 

 apprehension that the summer has overridden the 

 autumn, frost will find the plants unprepared for its 

 severity, much damage will be suffered, and precious 

 time, perchance, lost in regaining an advantage already 

 established. In many gardens, so much work is now 

 done in the autumn that the following spring becomes 

 more a time of watchfulness and expectancy than one 

 of haste and labor. 



Autumn is preeminently the time to rectify mis- 

 takes in a garden. It is, moreover, a time to make 

 changes, to rebuild and replant, and to proceed with 



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