Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-09

AS those wonderful people, the con-
slant req 'ers Of this column, Know full
we'll we arc constantly revising our
opinions on garden subjects.
One time we are Just as likely as
not to tell you that watering the lawn
is good for IT, and tne next day that
II is bad for 1t.
Exnericnce is the reason for this
weather-vane sort of performance.
Garden writings here at least have
the merit Of actually, We carefully
refrain from serving up the old stun
that has come down through garden
literature for hundreds of years.
II is remarkable how easy II is simply
to accept what some one else says about
something and let II go at tina;
Because of this attitude many garden
articles are filled with time-honoreo
hokum blindly accepted and repeated
from one generation OF gardeners 10
another.
The result is that amateur gardeners
are filled with a mixture of real in
formation and INSTRUMENTATION. The sad
part of 1t Is that many of us will not
believe our eyes when we prove thing
wrong. but go ahead doubling our own
work.
This Summer VIC announce our con-
version to the fun watering program
W. have tried letting Nature take
care of our back yard, and ore sorry
to announce that it doesn't work
Nothing in the garden except the
grass has done as we'll this season as
last. The eladioli arc through, the
hibiscus not up to snuff, the phloX dis
tinctly behind its blooming of last Sum-
mer. ZinniaS were unusually slow to
mature and blossoms have not been
quite as good as usual Even the Pc
tuniaS, the blooming est flowers OF all,
have been slow to show flowers in the
borders
All of this shortage cannot be
ascribed to lack OF water, OF course,
since dearth of fertilizer has been
an accompanying villain. just how to
balance the two is problem which We
shall not attempt to solve. Only a
series OF laborious experiments. carried
out over years. could begin to read such
a riddle.
If a gardener knows, however. that
he has been remiss In two details oil
his gardening, To wit, watering and
fertilizing he may reasonably suppose
that these shortages are responsible for
his iaAuIBS,
In our own case the lack Of watering
was deliberate. 1T came about through
an attempt to prove our belief that a
lawn will be a better lawn and Winter
kill less IL Nature is allowed TO take
care OF It. Steady readers here will
recall that we have advocated both
watering and non watering for lawns,
making but one reservation, that in
extremely hot, dry spells. when brown
spots begin TO appear in the grass, the
hose should be used for at least two
hours.
The lawn did indeed, do very we'll
without sprinkling. either partial or
intensive--so very well. in fact, that the
deduction which one normally might
make from the proceeding was simply
this:
II the grass, which loves plenty Of
water, nevertheless can get along with
out It, the flowers ought to benefit from
a like procedure.
This deduction, which we might rs
we'll admit now Is entirely erroneous.
shows very we'll the danger inherent
in all such drawing of conclusions.
When such jumping at conclusions Is
made In medicine II Is called empire"
that Is. theory is Gisregarded, and ex
perience is made the sole basis of
treatment The danger. of course. lies
in drawing a conclusion from too little
experience. in inferring that because