CHAPTER V 
THE HANDLING OF THE PLANTS 
Tuere is a knack in the successful handling of plants that 
it is impossible to describe in print. All persons can improve 
their practice through diligent reading of useful gardening lit- 
erature, but no amount of reading and advice will make a good 
gardener of a person who does not love to dig in a garden or 
who does not have a care for plants just because they are plants. 
To grow a plant well, one must learn its natural habits. 
Some persons learn this as if by intuition, acquiring the knowl- 
edge from close discrimination of the behavior of the plant. 
Often they are themselves unconscious of this knack of knowing 
what will make the plant to thrive; but it is not at all necessary 
to have such an intuitive judgment to enable one to be even 
more than a fairly good gardener. Diligent attention to the 
plant’s habits and requirements, and a real regard for the plant’s 
welfare, will make any person a successful plant-grower. 
Some of the things that a person should know about any 
plant he would grow are these: — 
Whether the plant matures in the first, second, third, or 
subsequent years; and when it naturally begins to fail. 
The time of the year or season in which it normally grows, 
blooms, or fruits; and whether it can be forced at other 
seasons. 
Whether it prefers a situation dry or moist or wet, hot or 
cool, sunny or shady. 
Its preferences as to soil, whether very rich or only moder- 
ately rich, sand or loam, or peat or clay. 
Its hardiness as to frost, wind, drought, heat. 
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