patch, a cherry tree, and a small kitchen garden in which I raise every 
thing we need except corn and peas, and often have things to give 
away. I neglected to say that my perennials may point wnth pride 
to their offspring and grand offspring in half the gardens in town. 
Wheelbarrow-loads depart ever>' spring, especially of Iris, which loves 
this soil so that they w:ould overrim the place. The ordinary Prim- 
roses, too, I di\dde and subdixdde indefinitely. 
The amount of grass space about the house has decreased as the 
years have increased, because I have kept adding more beds and making 
the old ones bigger. I would rather have flowers than grass any day. 
Of course this has increased my work, as no man may touch these 
beds. I will not even let any man trim the edges (they do it so dis- 
gustingly symmetrically) though my ideal method is to do the edging 
and weeding, wdth a man with rake and wheelbarrow following after 
to pick up the refuse. All this refuse, of course, goes into a hidden 
comer to be spaded into beds the following spring. 
You may have guessed by this time that this is not a very ex- 
pensive little garden. I am rather severe with myself and only allow 
myself so much, no more. When the garden was a baby this was 
necessary. WTien I came back to it after the war broke out, it seemed 
wicked to spend money on one's own pleasure, and now — I hope I'm 
not miserly, but I have got into the habit of garden economy. 
I allow myself a half-day a week of Lawrence's time, except in 
case of tremendous emergency — as for example the \dsit of the Gar- 
den Club — when he and I scratched roimd excitedly for days. I 
aUow myself ten dollars for new bulbs each year, and each year I try 
a few expensive new perennials (as for example. Campanula Marian 
Gehring, seventy-five cents and well worth it! There are five Httle 
Marians now. Mother was a hybrid, so had to be root-divided!) 
Five dollars easily covers seeds. Allowing then ten dollars a month 
for Lawrence — and this includes the grass-cutting, which he accom- 
phshes hke a Marathon race, in order to get at the ''real gardening", 
and allowing six months of gardening weather, it is easy to make the 
entire care and expense of a Httle garden like mine come well under 
a hundred dollars a year. 
The reason I go into these sordid details is, that any woman with 
a little initiative should not deprive herself of a garden because of 
the cost. I know I could sell perennials enough to pay a good part of 
this expense if need were. Many a woman, too, will waste a hundred 
dollars on a lot of fooHshness that will not bring the health and hap- 
piness a little garden brings. Of course, it is work. I cannot systema- 
tize the work. There are weeks when except for pulling a weed here 
and there and patting things, I need not touch the garden. There are 
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