1 8 TOWN AND WINDOW GARDENING 



we would pay their price, so it is worth while trying to 

 grow them for ourselves, and it can be done. 



All town gardeners must make up their mind to contend 

 with difficulties. The worst of them are smoke and 

 smuts. Smoke, however, is not nearly so bad in summer 

 as in winter, nor are there then so many flying children of 

 the soot. We must wash and sponge and syringe, and we 

 must use soft water. Oh, the magic of soft water in the 

 plant-world ! but how often the dry and panting flowers 

 sigh for it in vain. We forget or omit to store the 

 water heaven sends us, though nothing is simpler to arrange 

 than a pipe leading from the gutter on the roof down to 

 the ground. Instead of feeding our plants with rain- 

 water we turn the nearest tap, and torment them with 

 hard water from the main. This is what Londoners do, 

 anyway ; I hope it is not the same in other towns. On the 

 whole, growing plants give very little trouble, and make 

 slight demands upon our time, but, like children, they are 

 ruined by alternations of petting and neglect ; the little 

 care we give them must be constant, and, as usual, experi- 

 ence is the best teacher. " The watched pot never boils," 

 they say, and picnic experiences have taught us to believe 

 the proverb ; but it does not apply to plants and flowers, 

 which always do better for being noticed. It has come 

 to be a family fiction, in which we more than half believe, 

 that flowers will not thrive unless they are watched. 

 Looking at them seems to make them grow, which of 

 course is only another way of saying that they pay for 

 close attention, and the stitch in time that saves. 



At Exeter, already one of the most beautifully kept of 

 English towns, the window-box bids fair to become a 

 striking feature. An enthusiast in horticulture, anxious 

 to improve its southern entrance, is offering prizes for the 

 best window-sill gardening in that locality. Three 

 months are allowed for exhibition, and consolation prizes 

 give a chance to all. The idea is a good one, and almost 



