Evening star., 1932-09-21
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

, Is nearer the truth. Whenever q home
owner sees a bit Of writing about lawns
| or flowers, or vegetables, he reads 1t, in
order to compare some one else'S ex-
perience with his own. If he can ex-
perience the pleasure Of disagreement,
he thinks himself well repaid.
The subject of disagreement with the
written word, one may think, is worth
an article all by itself. Disagreeing with
the spoken word Is one thing, but dis
agreement with the written word quite
another. When one listens to speech.
one Is never sure that he is quoting the
orator properly, and therefore hesitates
to disagree with him. But with the
written words before him he Is more
likely to smite his adversary on the
hip.
Some people, swallowing the modern
doctrines of optimism whole, harbor
the idea that disagreement is sort
Of surliness. This is only true when
one disagrees In. churlish manner.
There is a good disagreement, as well
as bad sort Of disagreeing.
Decent disagreement, If one sees a
proposition that way, is duty, at least
to ones self. Where some people make
ence, is that they think they must
enter on limitless and perpetual dis
pute, whereas the real diSagreeing comes
first of all in the mind, and need go
no further, in great many instances.
The duty Of disagreement Is particu-
larly charge on ones self. The
danger Of it lies in the tendency Of
many people to make difference of
opinion a sort of god in its own right
1t Is nothing, this disagreement Of
which we speak, except in relation to
the integrity Of mind Of the ego.
Many persons will find no call upon
their minds to disagree, but rather to
accept what is placed before them, as
good chlldren were supposed to do with
their food in the old days.
Others will discover that they are
never quite so much themselves land
they know it, as when they are prop
erly dlsagreeing with another 1t must
be done properly, not on Whim or lust
for the sake OF argument, but solely
because ones own experience, beliefs
and ideals contradict what Is said or
written.
Home gardeners are forever disagree
ing, In the most gentlemanly way with
garden writer's, and it Is quite proper
that they do SO. and extremely neces-
sary On no other subject In the world
Is there quite SO much written which is
simply the handed-down wisdom of the
past This comes about because garden
ing is very old. and is essentially the
same today as 1t was yesterday, in the
broad sense. When Adam delve." he
did 1t In much the same way as human
beings today. Perhaps the instruments
he used greatly resembled the garden
tools employed by the average home
gardener today, SO ancient is this craft
1t has been the pleasant custom of
gardeners OF all ages TO hand down"
their knowledge from one to another
Naturally this has lent itself to parrot
ing OF information. What one man
said has been accepted by the next.
without much real experimenting: be-
cause Nature has been generous, success
often comes when radically wrong
methods have been used
Today entire schools have grown up
among amateurs based on nothing
more complicated than the best ways
to create good lawns. Grass is the very
basis OF modern home gardening, in the
surrounding and framing of house Its
culture will always be topic of genu-
Inc interest, not only to those who
daDDle in grass growing, in a small
way, but also to all those who hope to
do So and even to those who may have
no direct interest but who realize the
necessity for good greensward every
where, if city and suburban aspects are
to be kept at their height of beauty and
visual satisfaction
But to the bird lover the good lawn
has another side. and by no means the
least. If his grass is thick and lush.
it will attract the birds, and furnish
them many a good meal. He may add
to this happy effect by Supplementing
their diet with choice seeds of the
grasses, such as are included in most
mixtures" and which we have called
here by the rightful designation of
robins food"