HOUSE AND GARDEN 
April, 1911 
“A garden is ageless, and the gardener becomes ageless too, as ageless as the wind, the rain, the sun, sum¬ 
mer and winter, for he becomes one with them all. 
revealed the illimitable secrets of earth incense, the whole gamut 
of flower perfume, and other fragrant odors too intangible to be 
classed, odors which wing the spirit to realms our bodies are as 
yet too clumsy to inhabit. 
To the awakened mind there is nothing so lowly in the things 
below and above ground but can command respect and study. 
Darwin spent only thirty years on the study of the humble earth¬ 
worm. 
To get the greatest good from a garden we should not under¬ 
take more than we can personally take care of. I have not had 
a gardener since the first 
year, when outside help 
was necessary for the trans¬ 
lation of the sumach and 
briar patches of our Wil¬ 
derness into arable land. A 
gardener is only helpful for 
the preliminary work of 
spading; after that his very 
presence is a profanation. 
Garden-making is crea¬ 
tive work, just as much as 
painting or writing a poem. 
It is a personal expression 
of self, an individual con¬ 
ception of beauty. I should 
as soon think of asking a 
secretary to write my book, 
or the cook to assist in a 
water-color painting, as to 
permit a gardener to plant, 
or dig among my flowers. 
For in even the most unim¬ 
portant parts of my garden 
are little secret treasures — 
a stray cornflower that a 
Bedouin wind lured from 
its home-bed, a shy wild 
violet that strayed from the 
woods, being tired of blush¬ 
ing unseen, a blood-root 
which must have been 
brought some night by a 
fairy; where is the gardener 
whose eye and heart have 
been trained to respect these 
chance visitors ? 
The ancients had a de¬ 
lightful way of commemo¬ 
rating events and people by 
marble and other enduring 
things. I can see why we 
should hesitate to borrow 
from friends, but I don’t 
see why we shouldn't bor¬ 
row from dead Greeks; 
therefore I’ve made my gar¬ 
den largely commemora¬ 
tive, and memorial. 
For instance, there’s that 
hedge on the north boun¬ 
dary ; it’s true we needed a 
wind-break there, but it 
was much sweeter to for¬ 
get necessity and let its 
planting become an epic; 
therefore after one especial¬ 
ly delightful honeymoon (we have them annually and sometimes 
accidentally) we came home with the new enthusiasm bred of a 
short absence from home, and set out ninety-something hemlocks 
and called it “The Honeymoon Hedge.” Then there is the Ter¬ 
race planned in honor of the advent of two dearly-loved friends 
who had a weakness for breakfasting outdoors. I made my gar- 
den-partner haul stones like an Italian laborer, for days, and we 
both behaved like ground-moles tunneling out earth for many 
other days; and then a great christening rain descended prema¬ 
turely, and we only achieved a mud-hole in a stone quarry by the 
