Evening star., 1936-07-30

Alternate drought and rain have their
appropriate blessings In the city garden.
Long dry spells have one good point
flowers are not knocked down.
In normal seasons, when heavy rains
fall once a week on an average, the
precious crop Of the amateur gardener
Is felled ever SO often.
One rain, accompanied by much wind,
topples over the gladiolus spikes.
The next precipitation compelS the
humble petunias to drag the ground.
Mostly little permanent damage Is
done by rainfall, but all too often there
Is much tieing up to be done afterward.
There Is a certain amount of worry
attached to rain in the small garden,
but it is completely overshadowed. If we
may put it that way. by the delight Of
proper moisture.
This feeling Of satisfaction in the face
Of much water is known only to the
home gardener. The farmer does not
know 1t, because sometimes much water
may be harmful. The same applies to
all those who engage in horticulture for
sale. Sometimes the effects Of too much
water are bad.
The home gardener, on the other hand,
will not mind these occasional i'll effects
of extreme precipitation. What he
really fears Is too much dryness.
The rain which comes after many
weeks of dry weather is always a blessed
precipitation to the home gardener, the
amateur whose real crop is beauty in
the garden.
He discovers that rain in the garden,
even If it bends down many of his pre-
cious stalks, is beauty all its own.
y
The value Of shrubs is never half so
we'll defined as during a drought.
Then the flowers come along just the
same on the faithful old shrubby ma
terial, though some of the perennials
may not bloom, and the ANIMALS only
on the application Of much water with
the hose.
Evergreens, too. are good dry-weather
material. They normally endure ground
which seems as dry as concrete. .
Well-rooted specimens, both Of ever
greens and shrubs, tend to draw up
deep water by attraction from their
lowest lying roots.
This is one Of the mysteries of plant
life. 1t is wonderful provision OF
Nature to carry these more important
plants through hard periods.
Can there be any doubt that such
things as trees and shrubs and fine ever
greens are more important in Natures
scheme of things than the little plants,
the violets, the petunias. the sweet peas
and scores Of herbs?
The size of plants may make little
difference in one way, but in another
they constitute the real difference, max
ing plain Natures preference for her
largest children. Perhaps it is the same
in human society. Consider the dictator.
He is strong, grasping, ready at the
drop of a hat. More humble men are
weak. shy Of fighting. The dictator is
merely the exemplif1cation in human
society of the tree in the plant kingdom.
And 1t is the tree, of course, the lightning
strikes first.
Speaking Of lightning, what crack
that was Monday morning at exactly
o'clock!
There is a splintering sound to such
bolts that indicates to all that some
thing has been struck.
Sure enough, a block away stands a
great oak, with the bark stripped from
it for 20 feet. Many limbs lie on the
ground.
The tree has taken the bolt. and still
stands, shivered, but whole. What will
be the permanent damage? The inclina-
ton of the average person, looking al