BEGINNING AND LEARNING 191 



they had treated it. It was some ordinary border 

 plant, whose identity I now forget ; they had made a 

 nice hole with their new trowel, and for its sole benefit 

 they had bought a tin of Concentrated Fertiliser. This 

 they had emptied into the hole, put in the plant, and 

 covered it up and given it lots of water, and — it had 

 died ! T^And yet these were the best and kindest of 

 women, who would never have dreamed of feeding a 

 new-born infant on beefsteaks and raw brandy. But 

 they learned their lesson well, and at once saw the 

 sense when I pointed out that a plant with naked roots 

 just taken out of the ground or a pot, removed from 

 one feeding-place and not yet at home ia another, or 

 still more after a journey, with the roots only wrapped 

 in a little damp moss and paper, had its feeding power 

 suspended for a time, and was in the position of a 

 helpless invalid. )»A11 that could be done for it then 

 was a little bland nutriment of weak slops and careful 

 nursing ; if the planting took place in the summer it 

 would want shading and only very gentle watering, 

 until firm root-hold was secured and root-appetite 

 became active, and that in rich and well -prepared 

 garden ground such as theirs strong artificial manure 

 was in any case superfluous. 



When the earlier ignorances are overcome it be- 

 comes much easier to help and advise, because there 

 is more common ground to stand on. In my own 

 case, from quite a small child, I had always seen 

 gardening going on, though not of a very interesting 



