THOUGHTS ON GARDENING 79 



the germ ; his aim is not destruction, but growth 

 and progress in the pursuit of practical knowledge, 

 and the result of his work is living beauty. And 

 while he toils to wrest her secrets from Nature she 

 rewards him, all unwilling, with the health of 

 mind and body which comes of congenial occupa- 

 tion in the open air. It is true, in a measure, 

 that the gentleman must be born, not made, and 

 that just as we have met with isolated cases in 

 which the song of birds gives pain rather than 

 pleasure, so here and there we may find those so 

 closely wedded to the life of towns that a garden 

 to them would be as a howling wilderness. But 

 even such as these depend upon the products of 

 the soU so long as they come to them without 

 trouble ; the health and enjoyment, however, 

 that follow on genuine work in a garden never 

 come to such as these. 



We have heard an erstwhile smart soldier, now 

 an eminent horticulturist, declare that he had 

 never found any pursuit so engrossing or so pleasur- 

 able as the culture and ordering of his garden. 

 We have known delicate boys and girls, upon 

 whom doctoring seemed to be thrown away, 

 recover health and strength in tending the gardens 

 set aside for them to work in. We have been 



