Many a place is all but spoiled because its owner finds it difficult to confine his selection of plants for it to the number it will conveniently accommodate. There are so many desirable ones to choose from that it is no easy matter to determine which you will have, because - you want them all! But one must be governed by the conditions that cannot be changed. Unfortunately the home-lot is not elastic. Small grounds necessitate small collections if we would avoid cluttering up the place in a manner that makes it impossible to grow anything well. Shrubs must have elbow-room in order to display their attractions to the best advantage. Keep this in mind, and set out only as many as there will be room for when they have fully developed. It may cost you a pang to discard an old favorite, but often it has to be done out of regard for the future welfare of the kinds you feel you must have. If you overstock your garden, it will give you many pangs to see how the plants in it suffer from the effect of crowding. If you cannot have all the good things, have the very best of the list, and try to grow them so well that they will make up in quality for the lack in quantity. I know of a little garden in which but three plants grow, but the owner of them gives them such care that these three plants attract more attention from passers-by than any other garden on that street.

Be methodical in your garden-work. Keep watch of everything, and when you see something that needs doing, do it. And do it well. One secret of success in gardening is in doing everything as if it was the one thing to be done. Slight nothing.

For vines that do not grow thick enough to hide everything with their foliage, a lattice framework of lath, painted white, is the most satisfactory support, because of the pleasing color-contrast between it and the plants trained over it. Both support and plant will be ornamental, and one will admirably supplement the other. The lattice will be an attractive feature of the garden when the vine that grew over it is dead, if it is kept neatly painted.

But for the rampant grower a coarse-meshed wire netting is just as good, and considerably less expensive, in the long run, as it will do duty for many years, if taken care of at the end of the season. Roll it up and put it under cover before the fall rains set in.

The simple fact of newness is nothing in any plant's favor. Unless it has real merit, it will not find purchasers after the first season. Better wait until you know what a plant is before investing in it. We have so many excellent plants with whose good qualities we are familiar that it is not necessary to run any risks of this kind.

Many home-owners make the mistake of putting down boardwalks about the dwelling and yard. Such a walk is never attractive, and it has not the merit of durability, for after a year or two it will need repairs, and from that time on it will be a constant source of expense. The variegated appearance of a patched-up boardwalk will seriously detract from the attractiveness of any garden. It may cost more, at first, to put down cement walks, - though I am inclined to doubt this, at the present price of lumber - but such walks are good for a lifetime, if properly constructed, therefore much cheaper in the end. There can be no two opinions as to their superior appearance. Their cool gray color brings them into harmony with their surroundings. They are never obtrusive. They are easily cleaned, both summer and winter. And the home-maker can put them in quite as well as the professional worker in cement if he sets out to do so, though he may be longer at the work.

But make sure about the location of your paths before putting in cement walks. That is - be quite sure that you know where you want them to be. A boardwalk can be changed at any time with but little trouble if you get it in the wrong place, but a cement walk, once down, is down for all time, unless you are willing to spend a good deal of hard labor in its removal.

Never do spasmodic work in the garden. The unwise gardener neglects what needs doing until so much has accumulated that he is forced to give it attention, and then he hurries in his efforts to dispose of it, and the consequence is that much of it is likely to be so poorly done that plants suffer nearly as much from his hasty operations as they did from neglect. Do whatever needs doing in a systematic way, and keep ahead of your work. Never be driven by it.

It is one of the most satisfactory laws of Nature that we can have only what we work for. Too many seem to forget this, and think that because a flower hasn't a market value, like corn or wheat, it ought to grow without any attention on their part. Such persons do not understand the real value of a flower, which is none the less because it cannot be computed on the basis of a dollars-and-cents calculation.

Man, wife, and all the children ought to work together for whatever adds beauty to the home, and nothing is more effective in this line than a good flower-garden. I can remember when it was considered an indication of weakness for a man to admit that he was fond of flowers. I look back with amusement to my own experience in this respect. Because I loved flowers so well, when I was a wee bit of a lad, that I attempted to grow them, I was often laughed at for being a "girl-boy." "He ought to have been a girl," one of my uncles used to say. "You'll have to learn him to do sewing and housework." It often stung me to anger to listen to these sarcastic remarks, but I am glad that my love for flowers was strong enough to keep me at work among them, for I know that I am a better man to-day than I would have been had I allowed myself to be ridiculed out of my love for them. If the children manifest a desire to have little gardens of their own encourage them to do so, and feel sure that the cultivation of them will prove to be a strong factor in the development of the child mind.