GARDENING AS A RECREATION.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLII, Issue 20, 19 May 1909, Page 40

GARDENING AS A RECREATION.

Many young men in citv occupations ar. keen players at golf, and football, while few take to boating in summer as a change from cricket. Unless country bred, most young fePow- prefer enjoyment- entailing no physical work as that of bending over a -pa-ie. planting flowers, etc. To them that work is mere drudgery. It ua- a wi-t- rule long ago that gave ministers and schoolmasters a glebe and garden, whereon the physical muscles could get developed and act as a relief to t le -losei indoor studies which braced - - - ere i ry tiring when faithfully done. The minister who did no active labour to«> often became a physical weakling, athe mere labouring man who does not rea 1 or study mentally remains a mental weakling. Tht hange acted as & tonic to each in turn. As tle body was made - - got rest - < f < . s t 1 was purer, feeding the brain better. Variet t - . ru k . . _ r st tes a - actually m-A m--n. Tin city berk, poring st i - _ ' ' to give which « n-ure- -<<un-l - wp and .< \ jorouawakeninj. wit . the -prinj of th min i r«—tored. titling him for another day of it in town. Thus body and mind, being » jually u-ed. develop more vigour, reacttag giving the interest in life, the mere plea -

hands growing daily before his eyes, so that the reward of the morning is visible from the work of the evening: the hours have not passed uselessly away, i.e all deplore the early death of the over zealo is student, who never left his books to rerecreate, so weakening his body that it could not exist longer: hence the life was lost, and studies, future usefulness, and all that might have been, went to swell our national loss. Now, the hard-working townsman busv all day in gas-lit rooms, living an artificial life, is just acting similarly to the poor student. Whereas, by an hour or two at gardening night and morning several days a week, the compensation ba'anee is set to work, recuperating both mind and body. The beauty of such a hobby is that it can be taken up and laid down as suits the individual temperament and leisure. We need not make a toil of what is a pleasure, and, if indulged in moderately, will reinvigorate the entire man. To overdo it is to develop loss and not gain. From a small plot in an allotment garden, or around a cottage, a man desirous of doing something will ob tain all he needs in the way of a healthful exercise, with flowers and fruits for the table for very little expense, far less than what must be spent on any other recreation we know. In a garden the country lad can continue and increase his knowledge and delight in Nature’s works, while the brought-up townsman can soon learn all about flowers, shrubs, and the mysteries of grow th from the seed to th? ripened product, and that experience will give him a sympathy and understanding of all life which will make him read creation and understand it. making him a riper man al! his days.—" Scottish Gar-