THE CULTIVATION OF AS far as the garden is con- 
DISAPPOINTMENT cerned, February is a drear 
interregnum. Indoors, of course, 
one starts the embryo of future luxuriance, but in some ways the 
work is but an aggravation, especially to the eyes impatient for 
the growing glory of the out-of-doors. 
About this time we generally turn to the gardens that spread 
their beauty through the pages of books. There are many that 
breathe their perfume perennially, but at no season is it sweeter 
than at this. Perhaps our choice of authors would not meet with 
your approval. Maybe Warner and Emerson and Thoreau— 
why prolong the list—do not awaken your enthusiasm. But we 
do want your agreement on a little passage that seemed to shine 
out with such kindly good humor from Stevenson’s letters. You 
know it, perhaps; it contains the best cultural directions for 
February, so here it is: 
“.I am no cultivator of disappointments, ’tis an herb 
that does not grow in my garden; but I get some good crops 
both of remorse and gratitude. The last I can recommend to all 
gardeners; it grows best in shiny weather, but once well grown, 
is very hardy; it does not require much labor; only that the 
husbandman should smoke his pipe about the flower-plots and 
admire God’s pleasant wonders. Winter green (otherwise known 
as Resignation, or the “false gratitude plant”) springs in much 
the same soil; is little hardier, if at all; and requires to be so 
dug about and dunged, that there is little margin left for profit. 
The variety known as Black Winter green (H. V. Stevensoniana) 
is rather for ornament than for profit. 
“John, do you see that bed of resignation?”—“It’s doin’ 
bravely, sir.”—“John, I will not have it in my garden; it flatters 
not the eye and comforts not the stomach; root it out.”—“Sir, 
I hae seen o’ them that raise as high as nettles; gran’ plants!”— 
“What then? Were they as tall as alps, if still unsavoury and 
bleak, what matters it ? Out with it, then; and in its place put 
Laughter and a Good Conceit (that capital home evergreen), 
and a bush of Flowering Piety—but see it be the flowering sort— 
the other species is no ornament to any gentleman’s Back 
Garden.” 
A NEW SUBJECT FOR XX WHENEVER that elastic com- 
INVESTIGATION ▼ V posure of ours has become 
quite settled, when we have become 
almost blase and unaffected by the recurrent thrillers of our 
daily paper, when murders pall and we are thoroughly inured to 
graft and investigation disclosures, war scares, and political dis¬ 
cussion, the versatile journalist springs a new medical discovery 
upon us and the response is immediate. We have discovered our¬ 
selves to be in immediate danger of dread, incurable diseases. 
Many of the warnings are wise and the care resultant a very 
good thing, but so often the scare is merely aimed at hysterical 
natures and the information, “news” merely on account of its 
bizarre qualities. We do not mean to disparage the work of the 
good guardians of our health—their warnings persist beyond 
the stir of blatant headlines. But there are serious abuses not 
local but universal and these excite no comment perhaps because 
they are so very, very common. One in particular finds its way 
even into the circle of the home. It is the evil of improper light¬ 
ing. 
To correct the evils there is no need of vast legal processes. 
There are no picturesque features of millionaire oppressors of 
the poor, no deep-dyed villain’s sensational disclosures. After 
this statement many will say the matter must be unimportant; 
but though its correction needs no trumpeted publicity, its 
dangers are as real as its remedy simple. 
The misuse of illumination gives us irritation at work, it pains 
and wearies us while we seek rest at home. Most of us labor 
under the delusion that we are getting good lighting as we in¬ 
crease its brilliance to a flood of light that searches every corner 
and drives away all shadows. In truth we are driving away 
comfort and leaving headache, eyestrain and bad temper in its 
place. There is a chemical change that takes place within our 
eyes when light enters the retina. That infinitely sensitive or¬ 
ganism with its complex system of nerves must constantly read¬ 
just itself at every new thing we see and yet we over-exert this 
readjustment capacity by directing a glare upon our eyes from 
polished surface and unprotected light source, that scientists 
describe as many times beyond the normal amount consistent 
with a healthy condition. It is no wonder that we are over¬ 
tired or nervous. 
Furthermore, by aiming to drive away shadows we make our 
interiors garish, uninteresting. We have done away with that 
necessity of art contrast. Everything is of one tone, without 
highlights, flat and without variety. Besides, by insisting on 
brilliance, we have rendered negligible the color possibilities of 
lighting, and its decorative value. 
Does this appear exaggerated? In thousands of instances it 
is no exaggeration. We have cheaper lighting, better lighting, 
but in many cases we waste our advantages through ignorance. 
In another part of this magazine there appears the second 
article of a series that supplies the much needed information on 
this subject. Its object is to spread that necessary knowledge 
of how to obtain the benefits that science has put within our 
reach in source of light and means of using it. When we be¬ 
come aware that we may heighten the atmosphere of the home 
by our illumination, gain eye comfort and repose and when we 
apply the suggested remedies we will find even our dispositions 
changed for the better. 
A REMEDY FOR THE ''T'HERE seems to be at least one 
SWOLLEN BUDGET A direct result of the constantly 
rising prices: we have a new topic 
of conversation that bids fair to overshadow that old favorite of 
ours, the weather. So far as finding a solution for the problem 
is concerned there is no remedy in sight. Most people wait for 
some legislative action, or look to the appointment of some com¬ 
mission to readjust costs. Meanwhile the expense grows, and 
there is little that the individual can do to change the figures of 
the aggregate high cost of living. 
When the question is referred to the family budget, however, 
the case is different. Though the national figures remain the 
same, the personal ones can show a decrease. This is particularly 
true this year, for as spring approaches the planter of the small 
garden finds himself in a better position than ever to grow 
produce for his own table that will supply more than his personal 
needs throughout the summer and fall, and well into the winter. 
The labor saving tools, the better, hardier and more productive 
varieties, the recently discovered irrigation system for the small 
place — these are some of the factors that make it possible for 
the house owner to receive advantages far above the market 
gardener whose ultimate profit is determined by competition. 
Most of the readers of House & Garden have the opportunity 
to cultivate a vegetable garden. To them the series entitled “The 
Hundred Per Cent Garden” is directed in order that they may 
apply to their home place those same careful economies that 
they employ in their business. The principles of scientific 
gardening are not abstruse nor dull learning, and the working 
out of them is a real pleasure, but we urge every one who may, 
to put them in operation, for they help to lighten the budget. 
(124) 
