Volume XII. 
JULY, 1883 . 
No. 7 . 
MIDSUMMER GARDENING. 
What we usually regard as toil or labor in the garden 
is, comparatively, finished for the season. We no longer 
walk forth with the morning to work, but visit the gar¬ 
den before the sun to enjoy the sweet fruits of well di¬ 
rected labor. We are now in midsummer; the weather 
has reached its high meridian of heat, and all Nature is 
gradually and surely exchanging the freshness, beauty 
growths, and an early harvest of fruit and flowers. En 
joyment is now our chief occupation, that does not alone 
come from what we have and see, so much as what we 
have and give to others, that they may see and enjoy, in 
a measure only, the pleasure of a garden. No one can 
truly enjoy a garden except the one that plans, plants 
and tends it. No one can enjoy a painting half so much 
and tenderness of early spring for the more sober hires 
of dusty, busy summer. The ideal of spring is changed 
to a beautiful reality. In hope did we plan and plant, 
with joy do we now reap. With confidence, in winter, 
we selected our seeds, bulbs and plants carefully; in 
springtime did we nurse and protect the infant plants; 
we planted our gardens trustfully, and our hopes have 
all ripened to fruition. Our judicious selections, with 
spring care and nursing, are rewarded with strong 
as the artist who painted it; as we look on a picture, we 
look into the artist, the canvas is but the mirror that re¬ 
flects the artist's soul. In like manner does the garden 
reveal the nature of the gardener. When we find Roses 
and Lilies in the garden, we find joy and fragrance in 
the household; the beautiful in the garden only reflects 
the refinement and purity of character that plans and 
directs it. Training, feeding, watering and enjoying 
are the chief occupations this month. Of course, there 
