Evening star., 1927-04-18
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
A garden ought to be a place of hap |

A garden ought to be a place Of hap
piness.
Disappointment is one of the chief
factors against happiness, therefore it
must be ruled out, as far as possible,
If the gardener is to get the most
happiness from his garden.
Expecting 100 per cent results prob
ably is the greatest mistake, which
leads on to disappointment, and there
fore unhappiness. The amateur will
do well to realize this before he be-
gins.
In the first place, the beginner has
great many things to learn. While
no one would be willing to call garden
ing an exact science, there are many
phases of IT which one learns only
with the doing. There is no other
way
Books and magazines tell the begin
ner many things, but often fundamen-
tai points are left out, through the
very familiarity of the writer with
them. Any one who has ever tried to
give instruction in any line knows
how easy it is to overlook the essen
tial points, and how irritated, indeed,
an instructor may become over the in
ability of the student to understand
what seems utterly easy to the
teacher
Then, again, the reader will be un-
able to grasp the Importance of GER
tain procedures by reason of his own
experience, and will pass over some
thing as of minor Importance when
the very opposite is the fact. Many
months later he will realize that the
article told him correctly, but that he
had been unable, at that stage in his
progress, to make use of the truth.
In all life this is the stumbling
block in the pursuit of knowledge. A
fine article appears, freighted with
wisdom. Its arguments are irrefu-
table. The trouble is that those who
do not need to be convinced are con.
vfnced, and that those who need the
instruction do not even read the arti-
Gle, or, if they do, merely say, Bunk"
X X X
The beginner with flowers this
Spring must not expect, therefore, to
find every gladiolus bulb turn into a
perfect flower for him. lie must real
ize beforehand that one, or maybe
two, of the rosebushes he plants will
not do well. One even may die.
Before he puts a packet of Zinnia
seed into the ground he ought to know
that perhaps the flowers he gets will
lOl bG Tie SOiL lIdt Ie Ildu III MS NINA.
His reds may turn out to be off-color,
his yelloWs an ugly greenish tinge.
Let him be cogniZant of the fact,
too, that any packet of salpiglossis
may be an utter failure. The rosy
morn petunias he purchased from
the most reputable seedman may turn
out to be hopelessly mixed varieties.
Such things will happen even in the
best seed houses,
If the gardener-especially the new
one-fondly hopes for a 100 per cent
return. he is most likely to suffer dis
appointment.
What right has he to expect 100
per cent results, when he is not in a
position to give his flowers 100 per
cent care?
Can any beginner have 100 per cent
understanding of flowers and be in
possession of 100 per cent knowledge
of diseases and plant pests?
Does even the most conceited per-
son believe that he understands all
factors of growth, and poor soils and
good soils, and fertilizers, and believe
himself a past master in such agricul-
tural subjects as planting and pruning
and cultivation?
The plain fact is that in every hun