72 TOWN AND WINDOW GARDENING 



And there are customs. It is allowable to borrow 

 garden-rollers, but not brooms, nor spades, nor lawn- 

 mowing machines ; this is considered encroachment, 

 and " going too far." Neither is it considered ladylike or 

 gentlemanly to pass unsolicited remarks about the next- 

 door garden, even in praise ; nor is it good form to scrape 

 acquaintance across the fence — proper introductions in 

 the drawing-room must be waited for ; windows must 

 not be looked out of obtrusively ; and lost balls must be 

 searched for by going round to the front gate and ringing 

 the bell — no short cuts. 



Putting up barriers to shut out '^ next door " is liable 

 to offend. Manoeuvring is here advisable, and wire 

 netting comes in useful. It is insidious. At the outset 

 barely visible, as creepers clamber over and cover it, the 

 screen becomes impervious imperceptibly ; there is no 

 grievance. 



It is not thought good manners to work too hard on 

 Sundays ; — not like a navvy, and the shirt-sleeve would 

 annoy. Anything like serious work should be done 

 before breakfast. Pruning and light gardening, however 

 (in the Sunday coat), may go on at any time, and one may 

 see friends and give them tea ; but decorum must prevail, 

 and loud laughter is avoided by the well-behaved. 



Yet great happiness has resulted from, and many a 

 friendship been cemented by, handshakes across the 

 garden-wall ; children have thus found playmates, and 

 older people kindred souls. 



To the little houses of Suburbia come many brides. 

 What an interest the new bride takes in the one-year- 

 longer-married matron of the next-door garden as she 

 paces round it with the nurse-maid and the brand-new 

 baby. By-and-by what comparisons and friendly talks, 

 what advisings and what exchanging of plants and 

 flowers, what sage remarks from the old inhabitants to 

 the new, what pleasant evenings in the summer dusk. 



