THE JOYOUS ART OF GARDENING 



Don't try for bargains in plants. Get good, carefully 

 packed stock from a trustworthy, weU-established firm. 



Don't send in your order the last minute and expect to 

 get the choicest stock. 



Don't begin your garden experience with extraordinary 

 novelties. Such plants usually require expert care to bring 

 forth anything but disappointment. 



Don't try too many sorts nor plan too large a garden; a 

 few plants well-grown and a small garden well cared for are 

 better than many unhappy plants on a large area untended. 



Don't sHght the preparation of the ground. 



Don't economize on manure. 



Don't use any but well-rotted manure; if that is not avail- 

 able get commercial fertilizer. 



Don't fail to find out all you can about the soil. 



What You Can Do in the Winter 



The time to read practical garden books is the winter. If 

 such books aren't available, excellent cultural directions are 

 usually found in the catalogues of the best seedsmen and 

 nurserymen, who know to their cost that, if things go wrong 

 because planting is not properly done, it is always (in the cus- 

 tomer's mind) the "fault of the plants." One must consider 

 well whether the garden is to have adequate care or but languid 

 attention. If but little time and energy be the portion of the 

 gardener he had best plant hardy vines beside his porch, give 

 the preference to shrubs rather than flowers, and select for his 

 flowers those complaisant ones which are fairly indifferent 

 to matters of diet and situation. 



Plan the whole place carefully. If all can't be done or af- 

 forded in one year, why, patience is possible — "first the blade, 

 and then the ear " is good gardening as well as Scripture. Above 



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