THE GARDEN BOOK OF CALIFORNIA 



has gone by when it is safe to say : "That is good enough for 

 me," "That will do for this time," or "I will give that job a 

 lick and a promise." Thoroughness is absolutely essential, 

 and pride in the performance of every task undertaken should 

 be inculcated at the earliest opportunity in the child's life. , 



This habit is most easily cultivated while training the 

 child to the garden tasks. I must insist again that the child 

 should be first taught to assume the entire responsibility of 

 the task assigned, if you have character building in mind. 



Let the size of the task or the space for the garden plot 

 be carefully chosen to fit his age, size, or capacity. Let him 

 see that scale left on one leaf will soon spread to the whole 

 garden. A few slugs neglected multiply until the carnations 

 are no more. Blight in one corner, aphis in another, threaten 

 not one rose, but every rose in the garden. If the plants are 

 to thrive the gardener must be thorough; and from the dig- 

 ging and careful powdering of the soil in the spring-time to 

 the husbandry of the ripe seed in the mellow autumn, 

 thoroughness pays, and pays well, and the child leams these 

 lessons almost unconsciously as the days ripen and he comes 

 to know the beauty of detail. 



The provision, to the very fullest degree, of simple means 

 for encouraging the love of ornamental gardening and the 

 study of botany and other closely allied sciences at home, 

 secures not only a high enjoyment, but pays in point of health 

 and the physical development, and far more in intellectual 

 attainment. Linnaeus, the renowned Swedish botanist, was 

 the son of a poor country clergyman who had a small flower 



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