CHAPTER XXII 



THINGS WORTH DOING 



The heading of this chapter might embrace the 

 conclusions of all the deepest philosophies, but none 

 the less has relation to the simplest thoughts and 

 acts of every-day life. Is it worth having ? Is it 

 worth doing ? These questions form a useful 

 mental sieve, through which to pass many matters 

 in order to separate the husk from the grain. 

 And nowhere have we occasion to use it with 

 more vigour than in matters pertaining to the 

 garden. 



When I had less knowledge of garden flowers 

 and shrubs than I have been able to gather 

 through many later years, I got together all the 

 plants I was able to collect ; not with a view to 

 having them as a collection, but in order to 

 become acquainted with them, the better to see 

 which I could use on my own ground or re- 

 commend to others whose gardens were of different 

 natures. And in this way I have discarded 

 numbers of plants, some because I thought them 

 altogether unworthy, some because the colour of the 

 flower displeased me, others because they threatened 



