THE BIG BOG AND ITS LILIES 157 



is turning into a success. And that is only by girding 

 me heroically to the task, and undoing every inch and 

 every yard of all that was ever done before, and rebuild- 

 ing the whole thing from the very foundations, as it 

 ought to have been done at the beginning, nearly a 

 dozen years ago. And, had I done so, I should have 

 saved incalculably, in money, time, labour, and pleasure, 

 by insisting on the extra initial expense that thoroughness 

 of workmanship entails. Gardeners 'of England, take 

 warning by me' ; abhor cheapness, which means shoddiness 

 and inadequacy ; utterly eschew the saved sixpence, which 

 means sooner or later an outpouring of pounds. 



My critics have so alarmed me by describing my 

 standards as impossibly high and discouraging, that I 

 must deny their accusation incessantly. There is nothing 

 in what I say to discourage small gardeners, poor gardeners, 

 enthusiasts whose scale is limited. I only insist that they 

 must prepare their ground thoroughly, and not spare the 

 extra half-hour in building their garden, which will 

 ensure through later years the prosperity of even difficult, 

 capricious beauties. It is not lavish expenditure that I 

 preach — it is thoroughness, thoroughness, thoroughness. 

 Thoroughness, that cheapest and best of investments ; 

 thoroughness, the gardener's richest capital ; thorough- 

 ness in preliminary preparation, his easy, perfect insurance 

 against all the woes that afflict the little flock in his 

 charge. Of course if you are making a bog-garden by 

 the acre, preparations will come heavy and expensive ; 

 but in a little space, such as most of our gardens allow, 

 all my sermons, even if carried out to the letter, will only 

 mean a trifle of extra care at starting, an hour or so of 

 added labour, another six inches of soil removed — a few 

 small details looked to in the building, which, at the 

 time, are as trifling and cheap as they may seem unim- 

 portant — but which, in the course of years, will be found 



