92 A GARDEN DIARY 
FEBRUARY 5, 1900 
OT to devote an indefinite number of hours 
to the reading of war news; to eschew the 
luxury of idle hands, less on account of Dr. Watts’ 
reasons against it, as on account of more personal 
ones, which have taught me to reprobate the prac- 
tice. Here are a couple of respectable resolutions 
for a bitterly cold February morning. ‘‘ Books, 
and work, and healthful play”! Could a more 
commendable little programme be invented? or 
one that might be followed with greater ad- 
' vantage by many of us who only exhibit our 
superiority by laughing at it? 
Into which of the two latter categories garden- 
ing is to be ranged I am not quite clear; it 
depends, I should say, upon the number of 
rose-campions, ‘‘ Snaking Tommys” and the like, 
that are to be found in the garden in question. 
Winter is supposed to be a time of year which 
gives comparatively little scope to the energies 
of the amateur gardener. If so, then in this 
respect, if in no other, I am in luck’s way this 
