26 A GARDEN DIARY 
SEPTEMBER 12, 1899 
“ Epic of Weeding has still to be written! 
It should be undertaken in no light or frolic 
vein, but with all the gravity that the subject 
demands. What I should wish to see would be 
either a careful scientific treatise by a competent 
authority, or, what would perhaps be still better, 
a great poem, which, like all the highest poetry, 
would go straight to the very soul of the subject, 
and leave the votary of it satisfied for ever. To 
the earnest-minded Weeder, most other occupa- 
tions seem comparatively subordinate. Blank is 
that day some portion of which has not been 
devoted to faithful weeding. Blank is that night 
in which, as he lays his head upon the pillow, he 
cannot say to himself that such, or such a piece 
of ground has been thoroughly cleared, and will 
not require to be done again—for quite a fort- 
night! 
One disadvantage it certainly has, but then 
it is one that it shares with all the other higher, 
and more absorbing pursuits. If inordinately 
