Evening star., 1925-08-23
This and That
By Charles E. TrdcetCeH.

Home gardening puts one more in
| possession of his city.
To garden in the back yard imme-
diately opens up points of interest
formerly passed by.
Gardening makes one really look at
things-gives one thousands of points
of interest previously overlooked.
Parks OF the National Capital, in
stead Of being Just parks" circles
to pass around with indifference,
squares to be gaZed at abstractly, sud
denly become squares of enchantment,
circles OF particular moment.
Where before we gazed, as in a
dream, at beds of cannas, now we
| eagerly look at them in an effort to
are the Yellow King Humbert or some
other variety.
THAT little tree with the pink
flowers" has become a real plant. with
real name-albeit lengthy Latin cog
nomen-something to watch each
morning as we ride past.
The very streets have turned into
avenues of interesting beauty. since
we came to look up the subject of
trees, egged on by that one. small
specimen in the yard.
Yonder side street, with its rows Of
| notwithstanding Normandy poplars.
now seemG a veritable bower, whereas
formerly we passed it without so much
as a glance, or, If we did condescend
to notice it, merely wondered what
are those funny-looking trees?"
So the whole National Capital, to
the home gardener, becomes more
| wonderful and beautiful than il ap-
pears to those who do not garden
I believe that is no over-statement.
Until one actively becomes interested
in a subject, he cannot get as much
out of it as the interested man.
The hundreds who have written the
writer of this column, for instance,
get more out of reading it than those
who have not.
How can it be otherwise?
The whole science of education. if
one may call It that, is based upon
interest. What the child actually
takes a hand at, he will learn. Get
him to make some physical or mental
movement toward a subject, he Will
do more with it than the apathetic
child.
If any one desires to turn an indif
ferent person into one interested in
him, one way of doing it is to make
it possible for the Indifferent one to
do him small services.
For instance, women intuitively use
this method when they drop a hand
kerchief for some gentleman to pick
up for them.
This method is based on the huge
interest of every human being in him
self, and in what he is interested in.
Whatever he makes even the slightest
motion toward becomes interesting to
him on account of himself.
The above may seem somewhat re-
moved from trees and the beauty of
the whole National Capital, but it
really is not so far away as might
seem.
The point is that the home gardener,
by moving toward the study of plants,
has interested himself in all plants,
| wherever discovered
He will find that strolls through the
parks have taken on new meaning
since he became a gardener himself
He will find himself talking to the
gardeners in the Department of Agri-
culture grounds, and getting pointers
from them.
Throughout the city small bushes
intrigue his fancy.
He endeavors, while riding by, to
distinguish the varieties of Spirea
frafn those of Weigilia, or to deter.
mine whether yonder bush is the old
fashioned, sweet.scented Shrub" of
his boyhood days or some modern
upStart-
IheSe WOrQS are written parity III
an effort to induce those who have
put off gardening too long to take
! it up at once, next Spring at the
| latest, although this Fall would be
better.
After once getting into it such a
person will lament the wasted years
when he did not know the smell of
soil, or the fascination of watching
| things grow day by day.
He will find, too, as a sort Of super
reward, that his interest in the green
| beauty of Washington has increased
| many hundred-fold.