Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-11
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES Z. TRACEWELL.

Recent heavy rains did the grass and
other growing things q world OF good,
but played havoc with the determine
ton of amateur gardeners.
Tickle Spring weather-if one may
call it Spring, which is doubtful-is dis
concerting to gardeners. for one never
knows when he can work outdoors.
The season played a sort of April
joke on thousands Of sightseers., who
were forced to,view the famous Japanese
cherry trees through misty automobile
windows.
But 1t plays q worse one on the home
gardener, who would like to be out dig
ging, but does not find 1t practicable
as long as his fingers are chilled and
the ground is soggy.
There are different degrees of sus-
ceptibility to cold, Of course, but as
general rule the amateur horticulturist
gets little pleasure out Of gardening I'M
less the weather is inviting
door work in bitches, Selling each warm
afternoon as it comes along, making
hay while the sun shines.
Yet April Is notorious for being
rainy month: there Is not much the
disgruntled gardener can do about It.
He may get pleasure out OF watching
the good which the rains do all grow
ing things, especially the grass.
Nothing quite responds like the grass.
It grows on rain.
The millions Of grass plants. Whlch
first grew In meadows, where there was
nc protection from the downpours.
learned how to make the best OF
things.
In doing so, evolution, or natural Sc
lection, or growth, or whatever one
wants to call It, utilized the downpours
for good purposes.
At last grass came to demand what
it could not help getting.
y X
When one stops to think about 1t,
that is a pretty good rule Of life.
If human beings would learn to vel
come the inevitable. and make the best
of what they cannot help, perhaps they:
too, would learn to be philosophers OF
the natural.
Man is a disconnected creature. to be-
gin with, and everything he sees and
does as he grows older gives him visions
which he finds difficult to turn into
realities.
And often when he makes his dreams
come true, he discovers that the pest
part of them was in the dreaming. Thus
he ever remains true to his nature, just
as the grass does to its.
April rains will be good for the roses,
and the tulips, and the upshooting iris
and peonies, as well as for the hardy
privet, Just now taking on its load
of green, and for the tough altheas,
as yet unbudded
Altheas, which are almost trees,
stand unconvinced by the sporadic
warm days. Like Norway NAPLES, they
adopt a SHOW me" attitude.
Bare they stand. while all around
them lilac bushes put forth buds, de-
termined to make the most Of the ad-
vancing season.
ITS not Spring yet" say the althea
bushes. rustling their bare branches.
Let the forsythia bloom. If it wants
to, and the cherry trees look their
prettiest for the visitors. We will not
bulge until 1t gets warm"
X
Sometimes amateur gardeners adopt,
in thinking of their plants. the same
attitude dog fanciers often fall into
in regard to their dogs.
Who has not seen sturdy bulldog
bundled up In wool sweater against the
cold which he would not mind unin-
numbered?
The mind Of his master or mistress
has felt his cold, not he himself. Given
a chance to extend his legs, as Nature
wants him to, he will be warm all day
long.