The Soil Of Mother Earth

The cruising boat of a scientific expedidition in British Columbia swept around a bend in the channel and members of the party crowded forward with mingled exclamations of surprise and curiosity. The port of Simoon Sound lay directly ahead—a cluster of shanties built on rafts moored close to a rocky precipice. Tier on tier rose mountains, bristling with the green spires of giant firs and cedars. They reflected again in the still water and mingled above and below with clouds and sky. But none of these beauties called forth the buzz of excited comment taking place on the deck of ihe expedition's boat.

"Flower gardens! Well, who would ever expect roses and climbing nasturtiums on a raft! Look at those sweet-peas—fourteen feet high or I'm a poor guesser." Thus shouted men who supposed that all such manifestations had been left hundreds of miles and days of travel behind. Nature means to some of us "the great open spaces" where men are men, animals are grizzly bears, and women and flowers are both wild. If we cannot go to those places in fact, we make contact through books, magazines, and our own imaginations. But this is not the true and complete interpretation.

There is a parable about a mythical giant—a strong man of the Samson type. So long as he had his feet on the soil of Mother Earth he could perform muscular miracles, but the moment he lost that touch with Nature he was like Samson after the haircut—his strength was gone. This is a good parable because it partly explains why those of us who cannot live in touch with the real wild feel the urge to plant a garden. Then, don't forget that the leading citizens of that bunch of shanties called Simoon Sound, right in the heart of the wild, were not content with merely looking at Nature. They, too, insisted on having a garden and practising with Nature themselves. That is what gardening is—not just seeing, but also doing. That is why gardening becomes a hobby with men, women and children.

Men with practical natures plant beans and potatoes. The yield is the result, and the taste the reward. Flowers are miracles that Nature performs in the realm of beauty, to please the eye, and— if the poets know whereof they speak—to feed the soul also. Gardening brings Nature to the home. Successful gardening is Nature Study, for good luck comes to the gardener who understands what the plants need and why. In the smallest garden bed goes on the struggle of all life—the battle for the survival of the fittest, the selection of the strongest. The gardener cannot change Nature, but he says, "I will make Nature develop thus and so." He obtains his result by removing the enemies of the particular living things he desires to cherish.

By: davidbunch

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