St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-06-20
THE GARDENING MANIA.
In Some Respects It II Very Much Like
Being In Love- Says One
who Knows.


Love and the passion for garden
ing" says Chicago man who. accord
ing to the Tribune, knows something
about both halves of his subject, ARE
much alike. There are, indeed, numer-
GUS points of resemblance, as mo-
mentary thought will show.
1.-THE habit Of either, once contract
ed, is seldom entirely forgotten, for
one thing. The individual who has
known loves varied sensations ever
thereafter acknowledges reminis-
cent sympathetic throb at sight or
sound of the word; the individual who
has successfully made garden never
thereafter thinks of rakes, and hoes,
and spades, and seed bags, and the
odor Of freshly turned earth, without
a keen pull at the heartstrings, al
though confined in gardenless apart
ments for the rest of the natural ex-
istence. Both passions, again, are
alike in that, remaining latent all win
ter, they awake to renewed and vivid
life with the first warm and sunshiny
day.
:" In the spring a young mans fan
cy,' says the poet, Tightly turns to
thoughts of love- In the spring the
garden enthusiast finds the thoughts
turning. irresistibly, toward the gar
den. All winter long both lover and
garden lover dream of their objects of
devotion, feed their passion on bor-
rowed sentimentality and books. No
man makes violent love, it is said, in
the cold weather, and no man makes
garden under such conditions. But,
given spring weather and half way
favorable conditions, well-who
doesn't know all about the Easter and
June crop of brides and bridegrooms,
and about the nature loving individuals
who can't be kept indoors as soon as
the sun really shines?
Love and the passion for gardening,
too, are alike, in that both are great
Jewelers.. Love laughs at locksmitls
no less than at social ranks or restric-
tions; the garden fever makes light of
dollars and despair. No human being
is too young or too old, too poor or
too wealthy, too sorrowful or too joy
Gus, to be laid low by an attack Of
either. And in the case of either, the
man or woman rejoicing in the attack
cares nothing for the opinion of the
entire world, if only the pleasant mad
ness can be peaceably enjoyed. Bet
ter that the whole world should be sac
rificed, indeed, than that premature
enforcement from the beloved toll or
pain should be endured. Elizabeth of
the famous German garden was by no
means the only representative of the
Observation-Disclosures of people who
lose heads and hearts alike when gar
dening-or in love.
"All sorts and conditions Of people
find mutual enjoyment and bonds Of
sympathy in regard to both love and
the garden.fever. People who would
not for worlds be found holding social
converse on any other topic or ac-
count will cheerfully foregather and
exchange tender or gardening expert
ences or "reminiscences. The best way
to manage better half or the ever
present problems Of hotbeds or no hot
beds, roses or holly hooks, mignonette
or sweet alyssum, are alike productive
of unheard of friendships, intimacies,
good results. As democratic social
agents love and garden share equal
laurels. The people people marry
says Charlotte Perkins Stetson aptly,
are the queerest folks of all'-but
they're not one whit queerer than the
people people accept as gardening
friends and mentors. And when it
comes to the other side of the ques-
ton
Love and gardening are alike, once
more, in that they are SO often produc-
tive of rivalries. jealousies, heart burn
ings. Two men in love with the same
woman or two women in love with the
same man are but little more jealous
and unhappy than are two rival gar
deners who perpetually strive for SUI
premacy and the best results. And the
happy man or woman who has just en-
tered Paradise through loves gate
treads on air only little lighter than
the other happy man or woman whose
roses, or tulips, or peonies, or gladiolas
are the handsomest of the neighbor-
hood or street.
"Love and gardening, again, are
each old as the world, or humanity,
common to all times, and chimes, and
ages. Both have come straight down
from our first parents and the Garden
of Eden. Both are great comforters,
most dear and tender CONSIDERS. Both
can make themselves understood Of
other sufferers without the aid of
common language or interpreter Of
any kind. Both will triumphantly en-
dure when most earthly pleasures and
conditions have proved themselves
faithless, evanescent, utterly made
quate for comfort or relief. Both
breathetof hope, good cheer, and the
bliss of a new beginning; no failures
are irredeemable or irremediable in
either. In love, as in gardening, there
is always room, time and space for
fresh start. Both are associated with
the sweetest, best and highest inn
pulses of the human race, in life, lit
erature, art and common, everyday
existence. And, while money and fa-
vorable conditions may smooth the
pathway Of both love and the passion
for gardening, money is by no means
necessary for the highest development