SOME GARDENERS I HAVE KNOWN 
3, HERE are as many motives in growing flowers as 
there are reasons that take people into the coun- 
try. A genuine passion for nature is seldom the 
root of either. Frequently it is mere obedience to 
convention. The “best people” are observed to do and to 
have certain things, and thus it is recognized as the proper 
thing to have orchards, well-kept grounds, a stable, a kennel 
and a garden, and worshippers of convention buy them as 
they do groceries, hire others to care for them, visit them 
rarely, and have no personal relation with any one of them. 
If an entertainment is to be given, the gardeners wheel in 
their products, and the maids, or some poor relative, arrange 
them; and a bushel or two left over gives no pang to the mis- 
tress; the surplus is a gratifying proof of the prodigal yield 
of the estate. 
“God Almightie first planted a Garden. And indeed, it is 
the Purest of Humane pleasures. It is the Greatest Refresh- 
ment to the Spirits of Man; without which, Buildings and 
Pallaces are but Groose Handy-works; And a Man shall ever 
see, that when Ages grow to Civility and Elegancie, Men come 
to Build Stately, sooner than to Garden Finely,” says Bacon. 
Then there are those who have a barbaric love of color— 
masses of it—and whether their flowers are in the ground, or 
crowded into fat round bowls, they present solid sheets of 
color. As far as esthetic effects go they might as well spread 
yards of Turkey red calico or large flowered prints upon the 
ground. But this is their taste, and thus do they express it. 
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