Evening star., 1932-08-20
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

There is a type Of home gardener
who wants to take all the credit for
floral success, but refuses to accept the
blame for any failure.
If his 10-cent packet Of zinnia seed
which would grow for a monkey, fails
to do well, he says 1t Is due to q
neighbors beautiful trees.
The only inference one can draw is
that he would be willing that several
thousands of dollars worth of trees
be cut down in order that his 10 cents
worth of seeds might grow better. .
He would be surprised mortal II
the other should say to him, well. II
any one Injuries those trees will sue
for thousand dollars apiece and un-
doubtedly would get at least $500.
$50 If you will pay me $500 you
can have the trees, but cheaper way
for you to get your zinnias to grow
would be to water them at least once
in four months"
1t was the lack Of water, of course
which accounted for this Individual
failure, but no one would ever have
suspected it from the talk Of the gar
dener.
Such people are always long on
talk and very short on performance.
If the truth were known, they in
variably neglect their flowers, and then
look around for some one OF some
thing on which to place the blame FOL
their own negligence.
The curious thing is why such people
ever plant flowers at all, If they are
not willing to take any care OF them
There is no law requiring the plant
ing of the beautiful things Of the gar
den; if one does not want to bother
with them, that Is strictly ones owr
business.
Flower growing, after all, Is but one
phase of life, and a distinctly minor
one to an amateur, no matter now
much he loves the sport.
Neither life nor happiness depends
upon the Towering of roses, iris, gladioll
peonies, petunias. hlacs and the rest
of them.
Charming though they may be, and
loved by most so-called normal peo-
pie, flowers should never be taken sc
seriously that failure with them leadi
to the slightest unhappineSs.
Nor, indeed, does the gardener *
ready to place the blame elsewhere evel
tend to take the matter seriously. With
him 1t is merely sort of effrontery, In
slecting the weather, or lack Of rain, OF
some other condition for his lack oi
flowers.
The idea Of a game, with competition
undoubtedly is responsible for this really
unhappy frame of mind.
Competition is the life OF trade, &C.
cording to the old maxim, but there Il
more than a suspicion today, on the
part of many economists, that unre'
stricted competition, like too much o.
anything else, may tend toward thu
death of trade, too.
The introduction of the sport angle
into various interests where ordinarily
it has no particular place has led t
some abuse. This is noticeably true IL
gardening, with its modern accent or
flower shows.
1t is human, of course to want to ex'
eel the other fellow. It is even more
human to be Inundated by being out
done
Perhaps many man who has grown
superlarge tomatoes in his garden feel
less rejoicing thereat than his neighbo
who has grown small ones feel shame q
| the comparison.
Thus it will be seen at the outse
that competition In the garden mean
more shame and humiliation than l
does jubilation and pride.
One may think, at times, that to'
much of this sort Of humanity is wha
| is the matter with humanity. The cod
of ethics, manners and customs OF tn
| lamented Victorians was merely an at
| tempt, on large, and perhaps inflated
scale, to substitute reasoned instinct
| for the unreasoned instincts Of man.
The idea of duty, for instance, wa!
put in place of the perfectly human
desire to fee from the post OF danger
DIltyi