Evening star., 1935-12-02

interested In the rock garden, so-called.
At once arises a desire to know some
thing, even If in g. rudimentary way,
about rock formations, soils found in
Nature associated with rocks, anc a
study of a special sort Of plants, which
our English brothers call "alpines."
The study of entomology, which takes
up garden insects and bugs" of all
types, including the myriads of the great
beetle family, is one which naturally
intrigues the gardening mind.
1t is difficult study.
One will discover Just enough, perhaps,
to show him how much there is to know,
and how much, in turn, he will never
know. But he will be able to make some
headway in the perpetual fight Of gar
deners against the hundreds of plant
enemies.
He will come to understand the need
for spraying with insecticides and fungi
cides. He will realize as never before
that the Government has many men at
work on the same problems, SO he will
be heartened at his own ignorance, and
do the best he can in fighting the COM
mon enemy in his own little patch of
ground.
Chemistry, that wonderful study, plays
the major part in the development of
sprays, the insecticides and fungicides
so widely used. The composition of soils
comes under this head,
4*
The study of wild flowers opens up an
entire new world to the home gardener
He or she who begins on this inter-
eSting Sideline of gardening will find it
leads to herbalism and medicine and
these to studies of ancient peoples and
their ways Of keeping healthy.
The use of the various wild flowers in
the average garden will demand a real
study of each plant, and the type of soil
and situation necessary to its proper
growth. 1t will be found that practically
all the wildings must have the right
conditions, or they will be a miserable
failure. The amateur gardener who has
become accustomed to the "sure-fire'
plants, the hundred and one ANIMALS
and perennials, developed over several
centuries for ordinary garden use, will
discover quickly that wild flowers are
different. That is part of their charm,
but he must work to realize it.
And then the wild birds, the songsterS
which come to our gardens, especially
in the Winter. The Identification of the
birds is a special study. Their feeding,
during Winter, and their housing in
Spring and Summer, these and many
more problems arise. They are delightful
worries, however, ones seldom given up
after their acquaintance is made.
A home gardener can become as excited
discussing the relative merits of seeds
to be mixed as food for the wild birds
as many another person can over base
ball, or the recital of the speed he made
the last week end in his new car.
Garden animals, friendly and other
wise, are part of the picture. Here,
too, one may study lifetime without
exhausting the possibilities. At times
some of the animals encountered will
seem in the way until the gardener at
last comes to the sensible realization that
they, too, are a part of the great SYM
phony of the outdoors on which Nature
has lavished all of herself. Then he
will realize. perhaps better than most.
that though some animals irk him, they,
too, have their place, and that by being
kind to them, when perhaps he does
not want to be, he is training himself
for that greater demand and need, kind
ness to the most curious of all animals,
man.