Evening star., 1934-01-15

Now that the seed catalogues have
begun to come In, home gardeners have
Z wealth Of the most interesting litera-
ture at hand for long Winter evenings.
Anthony Adverse" his friends and
foes, must take q back seat, as the
word-minded gardener spends his time
with great red tomatoes, this year evi-
IDENTIFY larger than ever before, with
flowers and shrubs, picture lawn now
ers, trowels and fertilizers.
Who is more word-minded than the
gardener?
He pours for hours over descriptions
Of things long known to him, and q few
unknown.
It Is Just that quality Of familiarity,
we feel sure, which makes this among
the most entertaining reading in the
likes run that way.
Whether one comes from great city,
or small town, or out on the farm, al
most every one Is strangely familiar
with flowers, vegetables and what may
be termed their accessories.
This is An inner knowledge, a sort of
instinct Of the soil. which may flower
in no more outward q form than open
admiration, or an artistic sense which
compels one to atop In front Of the
florists window on the way home, yet
at the same time is as authentic, in its
way, As the farmer with his plow or the
wheat man with his thresher.
How delightful. these word descrip-
tions OF old favorites. here in the cata-
logues, which somehow seem to occupy
q place in their readers affections
shared by no other lists.
Those who love words particularly
well-and there are q great many more
Of these than are commonly supposed
get an almost unimaginable pleasure
out Of these seasonal descriptions of
onions, beans, cucumbers, dahlias, zin-
Mas. sladioli.
They hug them to their breasts, lit
orally, as they sit in chairs by the. fire.
side. or recline at ease. full length
in bed
The redolence Of growing plants.
most delightful Of fragrances, shaming
so many Of mans creations called per-
fumes, seems to watt out of the pages.
The imaginative will swear that they
smell the actual growing things, but the
canny will know that what they smell
is the imprint Of the press.
Sales-resistant, indeed is the man
who, viewing these beauties, is not led
on to reach for pencil and paper, in
order to set down list of desirables.
This Is a good thing to do.
Not only does it insure that the gar
dener will not overlook any. or forget
any. but also that he will be able to
eliminate
Elimination is as important here as
consideration.
The eyes of your average home gar
dener are very large. they take in all,
and want more, so that there Is moth.
ing for him to do, at last, but strike
out much that he has included
He will be able to eliminate perhaps
as much as so per cent Of his selec-
tions before he is through with them
but think of the fun he would have
missed If he had not put them all in.
Consideration comes first.
What shall be considered. in seed
bulbs seedlings and so on, will depend
mostly upon how many years one has
been at this pleasant game.
Ones first gardening year comes but
once
After that many plants will be tried.
some kept. even more. perhaps. rejected.
so that the process is constantly going
on. with selection. retention. elimina-
ton the three sides of a happy tri-
angle
That Is why one should have some
sort OF garden record.
There Is no other real way Of keep
ing track Of what one has tried. and
found good, or found bad, not to ones