1 68 FOURTH NATIONAL FLOWER SHOW 
loved most, and that there was not a single bell on all the plants with which 
she was not intimately acquainted, I said to her, "Do you know, then, why 
these flowers perform such wonderful work for you?" Instantly, the answer 
came back; "Yes, indeed, their love for me is just as strong as is my love for 
them, and they dislike parting from me just as much as I would dislike to lose 
them." 
While, so far, I have only shown you the pleasing side of gardening, I 
know its pitfalls and disappointments equally well, and I would consider it 
unfair to keep them hidden. But here again, I claim, not all of our failures 
should occur, but they do occur, because there is too little practical guidance 
and help offered to the beginner in gardening by those who know. And this is 
not said with any intent of criticism, but merely to show facts as they are. I 
have discovered that we who know a little — please note that I classify myself 
amongst those accused, but now strive to atone for past errors — have not 
realized how very, very little the beginner knows, and for fear of hurting his 
feelings by telling him things he does know, so that he says "Do you think I 
am devoid of intelligence?" we have invariably made valueless our efforts in 
guiding others. 
It would be much better, to-day, to teach the elementary principles of 
gardening to adults than to children, and I am sure it would bear better fruit. 
To prove that my heart is in the right spot, I will forego the pleasure of 
dwelling further on the sentimental side of gardening — and here, again, I prove 
that I can read the minds of my readers, for they have wished it long ago — and 
now devote the remaining space to the more practical side of the story. 
The garden to be really attractive to its owner must be his or her own 
handiwork, and most of the plants in it must be there on account of individual 
effort. 
Individualism is a wonderful thing. Instantly, upon approach you can 
tell when a garden has been designed with individual critical taste. No doubt 
the most elaborate gardens of to-day are those designed by landscape artists, 
but the individual garden is always the loveliest. There is something about it 
that appeals to the artist's eye. 
What the average gardener is most proud of, is the plant that he can truly 
call his own, and for this reason I am anxious to show him ways by which he 
can enjoy more of such things in his garden. 
Do you love the Hardy Phloxes? "Yes" you say, and so I want to show 
you a way by which you can increase a variety at least a hundredfold in a sea- 
son, from a single clump in your garden, without sacrificing the clump. Go 
to your garden next October, lift the clump which you wish to increase, wash 
every bit of soil from its roots, and cut off the long hairlike roots to within an 
inch of the growing crown. Then set the old plant back again in the ground 
and it will never know that it has been lifted. Next year it will produce the 
same results as in the past. The roots which have been cut from the old plant 
