Evening star., 1947-10-02
This and That
By Charles z. Trace1Dell.

Autumn is the time:
/. To repair fences.
2. To prune shrubbery that doesn't suffer
from fall pruning.
3. To cut out the dead growth and tie back
the rose vines on fences.
4. To set out tulip bulbs etc.
S. To rake and compost leaves.
6. To clean up and paint up.
T. To SOW grass seed.
8. To clean and paint garden tools.
All of these chores attended to mean less
work in the spring garden, when the ambitious
person is sometimes at loss for time.
Repairing fences is something easily over
looked.
A line post down, or a wobbly corner post
and nobody notices it or cares much, but a
fence, like the famous chain, is no stronger
than its weakest link.
The idea of rightness is one not possessed by
all persons evidently
But he who has 1t wants the unseen parts Of
his buildings to be as well made and well-cared
for as the seen parts.
Keeping fences in repair not only keeps
wanted things in, and unwanted ones out, but
it does something for the soul of the keeper
It must be admitted that there is no work
at times more tedious, and which gives less
show, than repairing fence, especially where
it is hidden by shrubbery.
The work contains honest satisfaction, how
ever. 1t puts the owner in that good group
of Americans to whom show is not everything
Real content, true worth-these amount to
something, too, and in them must somewhere
come keeping ones fences In repair.
The plain old althea shrub may be pruned
in the fall.
The lilac cannot.
All things that bloom on new growth should
be pruned now.
Rose vines, particularly those on fences ESQ
oft ,yofov o{a Nv, tn oioh
bors) will go into the winter better well pruned
and properly tied up and back to the fence.
Setting out tulips and related bulbs. now that
the Holland market is open again, ought to be
of increased interest.
Few flowers equal the spring bulbs, as they
are called.
These have place in the hearts of home
gardeners unequaled. They somehow hold all
the lure of the fresh spring breeze. They float
themselves into the memory, bringing back
happy childhood days, the sweet pictures of
mother and father gone on before; they spread
their bright colors in a drab world of warning
humans, and for flash In our eternity speak
of something entirely sweet, beautiful and clean.
The shame that so often clogs human
thoughts, especially when they are good. re-
mains absent when 1t comes to the Dutch bulbs,
so-called.
And then in the autumn garden we may
rake up and compost-not burn-the whirling
leaves
Leaves disintegrate quicker than other ma
terials, and make the best compost. More people
ought to do this, rather than take the easy way
out by burning them.
To clean and paint. to SOW grass seed, to
clean and renovate garden tools-these are
sensible chores, too often put of because they
are prosiac. But why should one worry about
the prose OF life? 1t is far better, especially
after one becomes SO, than the poetry, and
there is so much more of it,
Garden tasks, like all other duties, need
Imagination. The need for imagination was
never greater than the present; when the ter
rible fact of the explosive quality Of energy
is slapping us in the face We need imagina-
ton to see beyond the whirlwind. to stand four
square with God, and to see His universe whole
which means clean and healthy, like the good
earth swept BY October winds.