46 
GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 
public. Once resolved to try, opportunity comes halfway to 
meet us. In fact, many an unexpected one stands knocking 
at our very doors. Even a tiny plot, hearth-rug size, can be 
made to do duty as a garden, inasmuch as in these days of 
intensive farming the size of a field is the very least of its 
assets. Says an expert farmer who heartily encourages the 
pocket-edition garden: "No man knows yet the capacity for 
plant growth of one square yard of earth." Large fields, then, 
may be dispensed with, but this cannot be said of large enthu- 
siasms. Especially in the early steps of pioneering there is 
needed a discerning eye and an understanding heart. 
A champion of children’s gardens is found in Uncle John,i 
long the devoted garden correspondent of so many boys and 
girls the country over. His enthusiasm is such that all those 
about him catch fire. Just one little incident will show how 
far the sparks may fly. One spring morning he made with 
some friends a pilgrimage to old Boston. Rambling through 
the North End, they came upon the Old North Church, 
and, like all visitors, climbed a hundred or more steps to get 
a bird’s-eye view of the famous landmarks. Uncle John had 
scarcely reached the top when he burst out, " Look at all 
the little gardens ! ’’ True enough, viewed from this his- 
toric tower, the whole region, in spite of crowded tenements 
and crooked streets, might fitly have been named the garden 
quarter of the town. Eor as far as eye could reach, gay little 
gardens dotted the housetops and fire escapes. They were 
springing out of window boxes, old pans, cracked dishes, and 
what not. On every side the exquisite young green of garlic, 
lettuce, radishes, and onions was stretched up in response to 
the coaxing warmth of a ten o’clock sun, while nasturtiums 
and morning-glories were winding and twining around what- 
ever their tendril fingers could clasp, here on a spout and there 
1 John W. Spencer, Ithaca, New York. 
