You've planted
your bush where you wanted it."
The delighted gardener went in the strength of that witticism for forty
weeks or at least until some fiend of candor, a brother, like as not,
said:
"Yes, truly you have violated the first rule of gardening, for you have
put your willow-tree--that's what it is--where a minute's real
reflection would have told you you'd wish you hadn't."
Where to Plant What! Plant it where you--and your friends--your friends
of best gardening taste--will be glad you planted it when all your
things are planted. Please those who know best, and so best please
yourself. Nevertheless, beware! Watch yourself! Do so specially when you
think you have mastered the whole art. Watch even those who indisputably
know better than you do, for everybody makes mistakes which he never
would have dreamed he could make. Only the other day I heard an amateur
say to a distinguished professional gardener:
"Did you plant those shrubs of gorgeous flower and broad, dark leaf out
on your street front purely as a matter of artistic taste?"
"I did," he replied. "I wanted to put my best foot foremost. Wouldn't
you?"
"Why should I?" asked the amateur. "I wouldn't begin a song with my
highest note, nor a game with my strongest card, nor an address with my
most impassioned declaration, nor a sonnet with its most pregnant line.
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