The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-04-29
About q Garden.

When spring comes, how naturally
the heart Of the dweller in town turns
toward the country.
He thinks of the green lanes, the bud
ding fruit trees, the white arbutus in
bushy dells, the sweet air of morning,
the distant hill tops purple in the light
OF sunset. He thinks. if he were s only
rich," how he would spend summer In
the country! He would have farm
just now, it is the fashion for all city
gentlemen to own farms-and he would
raise poultry, and keep his pair of
horses. and experiment on new kinds
of potatoes, and he would have gar
den!
Yes, garden!
Everything delig htful in country life
is comprised in that one word garden!
That is, to one who does not know
anything about garden by expert
mental knowledge. The flowers bloom
SO sweetly and SO gorgeously, the fruits
ripen to perfection, the peach trees
scent the air SO deliciously!
But garden, considered practically.
is one OF the toughest enterprises on the
footstool to manage There Is a great
deal more prose than poetry in it.
More backache, and stiff legs, than in
anything else we know of. Nobody
who cannot hire a gardener, should
ever undertake garden, unless he has
good courage. perseverance, and will
which nothing short of fate itself can
break down. He must have q back
which never needs galvanic plasters,
and set of muscles tough as those of
an OK, and skin which will not swell
up at mosquito bites. and the stings of
black flies. He must have no terror of
worms, and bugs, and caterpillars, and
toads, and striped snakes, and lizards
and earwigs, and a hundred other like
interesting specimens of creation.
He must be ready to rise al five, for
the best time to pull weeds is while the
morning dew is on, and the ground is
moist with the dampness of the night.
No lying in bed till breakfast time for
the man who has garden! "The early
bird catches the worm," and the
gardener must be up, betimes, to look
after the slugs, and the currants pests,
and the ounce tree borers, and the
wire worms, and the cucumber and
squash bugs. A days delay in this
business may cost him his entire crop,
for bugs and worms are notorious glut-
tons, and. one dinner for them will often
mean ruin to a whole gardens compile
ment of vines.
The man with a garden must have
"eternal vigilance for his watchword.
He must weed continually. He must
dig without ceasing. He must apply
fertilizers-no matter if the odor be not
like Lubin's Bouquet De Caroline. He
must water unsparingly. He must
pray for rain a good deal. He must
have courage to thin out his plants until
they look lonesome as fence posts be-
fore the pickets are on! Nothing will
prosper if it is crowded.
He must learn to bear wet shirts and
limp collars-to pay no regard to tan,
and perspiration, and dirt in his eyes.
and grimy hands, and finger nails in
mourning, and scratches from rose
bushes and brambles, and raspberry
canes.
And if he perseveres, and works early
and late, and kills the insects, and it
doesn't rain too much, or if there isn't
drought, or a searching wind, or a
mildewy spell, or hail-storm, and his
ground is just right, and his seeds ger
inmate, he will, perhaps, have a garden
he will be proud of, and perhaps he will
not. Quite as likely one way as the
other, but the gardener must trust in
Providence and take his chances.-Kate
Thorn, in N. Y Weekly.