HEALTH IN THE GARDEN 



definite object, rather than the more or less 

 abstract one of regaining health.'^ 



Give her a few packages of seeds and arouse 

 in her the enthusiasm to have a garden and 

 she will get the verj^ best kind of exercise out 

 of her attempt to carry out the plan, and the 

 definite object'^ — in other words, the garden 

 — that she has in mind will keep her so de- 

 Hghtfull}^ busy that she will forget all about 

 the health-features of the undertaking until 

 it dawns upon her with startling suddenness 

 some fine day that she ''has got her health 

 back/^ How or when it came she cannot tell 

 you, All she knows is that she feels like a 

 new woman. After that there will be no 

 necessity to repeat the prescription, for one 

 year's half-way successful work in the gar- 

 den fixes "the garden habit'' for all time. 

 Nothing else can afford so much pleasure and 

 exercise in happ}^ combination as gardening, 

 or exert a greater fascination over the per- 

 son who allows herself to come under its in- 

 fluence. 



I cannot begin to tell you what wonderful 

 and delightful things I have learned in the 

 garden. It is like having the Book of Nature 

 opened before you and being taught its lore 

 by the book's own author. You see magical 

 things taking place about you every day, and 



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