Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-03

Seed catalogues are among the "best
sellers" throughout the Nation, II one
may Judge from the informal reports on
books which come from near and far.
Everywhere persons interested in their
gardens are turning over the pages OF
the brightly illustrated booklets (some
of them are large enough to be regard
on what to plant this year.
Is there any more delightful perplex-
ity than this?
For every indecision is not tiresome,
nor does It spell fault in character.
The perplexity which besets the ANA
teur gardener at this time of the year.
as he pores over his favorite seed cata-
logues, Is Of the sort which makes life
better.
well may he hesitate. Here are scores
and scores of varieties clamoring for his
approval. The truth of the matter Is
that he approves of them all! II the
gardener had his way about it, he would
put seeds of every one into the ground.
Only by planting them all can the
home gardener ever be satisfied, just as
only by reading every book that comes
from the press could the booklover feel
that he had kept up with the times.
Both courses being out OF the ques-
ton, there Is nothing left for either the
e@es
intelligent choice. Here is where the
delightful perplexity comes In, and IN
some ways the choice is more beset with
doubt among seeds than among books.
There are many advisers, both formal
and informal, in the field of books.
Critics of various degrees are willing
to tell one about the good books, the
better books and the best books. But
there are few seed critics." although
there are plenty of plant experts. In
the fields of horticulture every man Is
own needs. One seldom lets George
do 1t.
Catalogues have been in hand for
three months, but most of us have not
paid much attention to them, despite
the pleas Of the seedSmen, except for
an evening or two after they came. That
is called "fireside gardening" and most
delightful 1t Is, too. But January is too
far from the planting season. Warmer
days must lure one into the open before
the mind really is At to consider plants.
Thus gardening Is seen to be almost as
much mental as material or manual.
Every person has an exact degree Of
temperature at which he feels best
outdoors. If one is particularly sturdy
and warm blooded he may find that he
is comfortable outdoors on chilly day.
Most of us. however, demand some de-
gree of real warmth before the garden
beckons in earnest.
Not that there have not been days,
now and then. when one was lured into
the back yard. The neighbours boy was
raking furiously. We love that boy. He
goes at everything hammer and tongs.
Some day, when he Is older, he Is going
RI tho habit nf ctiHk n-it i've
ness. And when he does, there is go
ing to be nothing too big for him to ac-
complish.
When those first warm days came
around recently, Junior was out in his
back yard with a mans sized rake, in
tent on putting the world to rights. His
raking would have won hands down in
any raking contest. What mattered 1t
to him If there was little grass to rake?
The instrument went into play as If
huge masses of old growth were to be
removed and cast into the discard.
These strenuous rakngs were relieved
by periods of proper horseplay, in which
handspringS were the order of the day.
Now this is the proper spirit of the gar
den. One ought to want to turn hand
springs, or cartwheelS. and, what is more
one ought to feel like doing it. The
trouble with too many gardens is that
their gardeners feel as if they are being
spied upon by the neighbors. No doubt
some of this is in the gardeners own
head, but part of it is in the neighbors
eyes, too. The lack of self-consciousneSs
of youth Is an invaluable asset for a
gardener.
Now is the time to get down to bust
ness about ones collection of seed
catalogues. These enhancing books