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Show COMMUNICATION 4 THE FAMILY GARDEN. . Editor Tribune: A garden may be anythinsr from a little space devoted to herbs and sweet-smelling, old-fashioned old-fashioned things from the days of i our frrandmuthers, to the stately magnificence mag-nificence ,of lordly creations inspired by artists for 'he pleasure of kings; or they may be the picturesque conceptions of the modest householder who has an eye for beauty and the deftness of hand "to arrange the simple, easy growing things which give to his place an air of ease and repose at once a delight to the eye of the visitor or to the man who must hasten bv. There is much of soothing and comfort in any well-ordered garden, a quiet pause, a time of reflection. There is much of interest. A garden is a place teeming with life; the eternal struggle manifests itself in an effort to live, reproduce re-produce and die. The battles and history of the birds and the insects, the plants and weeds, the flowers and shrubs in a story which nature unfolds lo anyone who will pause and listen. The making of a simple garden is not a difficult matter and the returns are so generous in health and good cheer and ! general satisfaction in having made two : blades grow w here only one or perhaps ; no blade grew before, that the reward is ' ample whether the harvest be "an hun-i hun-i dredfold. or sixtyfold, or thirtyfold." A : garden is an unselfish thing: it invites i hospitality: it promotes cordiality; it is a fine expression of good intention. It I provides an opportunity to develop rare ; skill of artistic arrangement in handling I masses of color and in selecting and growing plant'. Fine gardening :s an art full of possibilities. Nature is ever ready to assist, to harmonie. to cover up and fill in. The limitations of the artist, his crudesness and l.aok of understanding are not so easily discovered in a garden. Whatever talent he may possess is em-j em-j phasized in every movement. Hacked by i nature, no one need fear making a gar-I gar-I den. if the gardener will only seek to do the simple. natural tilings and avoid whatever is fussv and farlVtehe'l. There must be no straining alter effects, no aping. Let every item in the garden serve a purpose, but the purpose need not be advertised. Potatoes may. be of greater importance than anything else, but masses of purple asters blooming magnificently in the hills which missed are nn; out of place and convert a rather ordinary pl.lt into a tiling nf hr-aury. This follows tho worths example of those an cient master workmen wjio set their jewels in their tools. The barren spots are numerous which could be filled by the lilies of France, asking nothing more than a home, however poor, and returning return-ing a wealth of color and daintiness of perfume quite unmatched by anything else in the kingdom of flowers. .N'o other investment will return more to a home thaai a garden. The best part of it cannot be measured by any scale of weights or measures or values. A good crop is always appreciated, but there is something more and finer accruing to the owners. Of love and sympathy and satisfaction, sat-isfaction, who will attempt an appraisal? A garden is hardly complete without children.. The mother of a large family of boys and girls living on the edge of a desert, when asked how she could have such a wonderful garden with so many little ones about to work possible harm or mischief, replied that it was because of the children and not in spite of them. It was their garden, the product of their effort, the result of her love and foresight. fore-sight. The baby of that family when he grew to manhood could never remember auite clearlv when making a garden with his children, just when he planted his first roses and sweet peas it was a long, long time back; nor will his children ever remember when they began planting their nasturtiums and hollyhocks, for it will be lost in the mists of childhood. The garden idea has descended with us from the beginning. "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden." Nor is the spirit of the garden in a fair way to be lost in the shuffle of our modern ways. There is something irresistible in the soil which holds us to it, and though we abandon it for a season the desire to seize a spade and turn over the clods and look for worms is as perennial as the hlirstinp- flf hlM anrt romiii-oo Knt tho genial April sunshine to provoke it. Nor should the desire be inhibited. On the contrary, we should foster the idea and give it a chance to grow. We need more gardens: we need more life out of doors and close to the ground; the government beseeches us to produce more food; the stricken of Europe stretch eager hands for our bread. There is room in any garden for the things we love food for the body inspiration for the soul. A thoughtful plan of planting and succession suc-cession will keep the garden full of growing grow-ing things from frost to frost. No one should be satisfied with one crop a year. The land should be compelled to give up its utmost, and a succession of crops is what is wanted. No one has the slightest interest in a garden that ends in July. Midsummer should see it as bright as early June, and the full fruition should not come before the frosts of October remind re-mind us that the season is closing. Gardens Gar-dens would hA mnrp aiippoccl'til if thio thought were borne in mind before the planting season arrives: and as the season sea-son fdv.--nees and one fine thing succeeds the other, hopes and expectations and efforts ef-forts never rUacken. A burned-tip radish patch leaves us hopeless, but we are immediately im-mediately cheered by flaming poppies which can succeed them if the seed is planted together. The June peas are soon a thing of the" past, but the garden is only beginning to unfold if asters were judiciously planted about every two feet along the drill. Our love of peonies will get us into the garden and put us to work though our potatoes about that time might not invite us at all. And so on through the procession. Gladioli and corn, melons and dahlias, squash and chrysanthemums, all good, all useful, each thing serving in its own time and place, filling a distinct need. Promiscuous Promis-cuous planting of flowers and vegetables is by no means implied, yet some very happy combinations in this direction are possible. In any event the time is here when it becomes necessary to give the garden thoughtful consideration. It is better to plant any kind of a garden than to let the land lie idle, but Infinitely more satisfactory to plan a garden which shall be useful and artistic and filled to the last corner with the many splendid things which can be grown to perfection in this garden spot of the earth A. B. KESLER, Salt Lake City. April 1, 1019. |