10 
THE HOME GARDEN,\ 
The owner of a half-acre plot would probably object to 
the magnificent distances of the Tuileries shrubs as an 
absurd impossibility in his limited space; but it may be 
answered that it is not a bit more absurd than his attempt 
to imitate the other arrangements of a large public garden. 
He will probably undertake a statue or two, a fountain, a 
rockery, and other et ceteras that require space and means. 
A garden which is intended for show usually covers a 
moderately large area, and is not unfrequently replenished 
by plants already in bloom, in place of those whose “ sea¬ 
son ” is over. It involuntarily reminds one of the chil¬ 
dren’s gardens, that are all “posies,” merely stuck in the 
ground for a few hours. Some one says, not without cause : 
“A garden is, in fact, no longer the home of plants, where 
all ages, the young, the mature, and the decayed, mix 
freely and in easy dress. It has degenerated into a mere 
assembly-room for brilliant parties, where childhood and 
age are both alike out of place.” 
In this artificial arrangement one loses all the delicious 
pleasure of watching for and reporting the first faint green 
tips that whisper of coming buds and flowers, the first 
crocus or snowdrop that shakes its pearly bell defiantly in 
stern old winter’s face ; though, for the matter of that, 
u Who ever saw the earliest rose 
First open her sweet breast? ” 
Garden paths, instead of conducting one, as they should 
do, out of all labyrinths and difficulties, are often a serious 
stumbling-block in gardening. They are so seldom pictu¬ 
resque and comfortable at the same time. They either lead 
nowhere in particular, or curve where a curve is the height 
of absurdity, or are damp from lack of drainage—except 
that made upon the owner’s purse. For the worst-done 
work is by no means the least expensive. The experience 
of a sufferer is that “it is about as much trouble to keep 
