"
In another garden he says, "Splendid sunburst of color, that big tub of
geraniums!" and the householder is pleased to admit the fact. "If you'd
sink the tub into the ground clear down to the rim they'd take up no
more room and they'd look natural. Besides, you wouldn't have to water
them continually."
"That's true!" says the householder, quite in the incredible way of an
old-fashioned book. "I'll do it!"
"And then," says the caller, "if you will set it away off on that far
corner of the lawn it will shine clear across, showing everything
between here and there, like a lighthouse across a harbor, or like a
mirror, which you hang not in your parlor door, but at the far end of
the room."
"When you come back you shall see it there," is the reply.
Sometimes, yet not often, a contestant is met who does not want advice,
and who can hardly hide his scorn for book statements and experts. The
present writer came upon one last year who "could not see what beauty
there was in John Smith's garden, yet we had given him and his wife the
capital prize!"
Frequently one finds the house of a competitor fast locked and dumb, its
occupants being at work in some mill or shop. Then if the visit is one
of official inspection a card stating that fact and dated and signed on
the spot is left under the door, and on its reverse side the returning
householder finds printed the following:
"In marking for merit your whole place is considered your garden.
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