Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-13

/ ship with the old fellow: he would
recognize, perhaps, the latters superior
| grasp Of some of the practical problems
of onion growing, and when he wanted
| to set out some of his own he probably
would call in the old man.
\ II +
The supremely practical matter, how
ever, which keeps gardening on high
human plane OF honest commonness
lies in the fact that Nature takes
charge Of the operations, once they are
begun.
The violinist fingers his instrument
with his left hand, and draws the bow
back and forth with his right, and all
the time he is keenly conscious that
whatever result he shall attain, musi-
cally speaking, is due entirely to the
skill Of his own two hands, iii co-opera-
ton with his mind and emotions.
No miracle, he knows, will come ia
his rescue when his fingers stumble
over those difficult trills. If his fin
gers have not mastered them, as the re-
suit Of many hours Of previously going
through the motions. his Offering will
be lost to critical taste.
The soprano, as she scars to high c
Ito the delight Of Snrhe. and the dis
gust of others, especially radio audi
enceS), will seek in vain for supernat-
ural aid, If on that evening her voice Is
not up to her usual standard. She
either makes" 1t or she doesn't, and
the critics must do their worst.
The gardener Is in no such unhappy
plight. He has the world, the flesh and
the devil, almost, behind him In his OPP
erations, and this keeps him humble,
meek and mild.
Only the ruthlessly conceited person
will take unto himself the credit for the
growth OF plants, and their ultimate
success, as plants.
There are such, of course, but their
numbers are small, compared with the
vast mass of conceited persons in other
lines of endeavor.
Nor, on the other hand, is the gar
dener harassed by humiliation. when
Things go poorly. He has the great
earth behind him, warming the crop,
helping 1t along, and If it does not do
well his mind abSolves him Of blame.
y
There Is yet another reason why the
average gardener Is a humble, God
fearing man, content to mind his own
business, and let others mind theirs.
He knows that the human race, with
its usual propensity to reverse values,
has tended TO look down upon the man
who works with the soil.
This subtle bit of snobbishness has
permeated mankind, with the result
that few men take real pride in them
selves as gardeners. Indeed, the ordi-
nary form of small home gardening has
been left to the women, who on most
farms and in small towns plant the
small gardens and tend" the flowers.
There Is nothing about. gardening,
then, as practiced by most of US, to stir
up those evils of our nature, envy, or
competition, or pride. or egotism.
This occupation "for which no man
Is too high or too low leaves its devo-
tees entirely free to work unhampered
to the best Of their ability.
Unlike the situation which often pre-
walls in other walks of life, where SO
much Of an individuals energy must be
held in reserve to fight back, to coun-
teract the attacks of rascality, mean
ness and envy, the garden offers to the
average person field free from COM
bat, where he may develop the best in
himself and his plants, but where, If
he does not succeed, there Is no par
ticular penalty for failure. The gar
den Is charming precisely because it is
not too human.
To succeed without undue elation,
and to fail without unnecessary humil-
iation-such Is the happy fate of the
gardener, and one which makes it adj
visable for most men to become one be-
fore they are SO, as the old saying
puts it.
Peculiar knack, or ability, not being
q requisite, gardening is open to the
man who may have had little expe-
rience, or the man who may have had
great deal. 1t makes little difference.
He may even watch some one else do it,
but II he has the mind and heart Of a
gardener. he is a gardener, let come
what will.