Considered Trifles
HORTICULTURE AND HARMONY.
When Mr. Wiles opened the Port of London Authority Horticultural Society's flower show last week, he is reported to have said, " Nothing leads to harmony in the home more than gardening." Now this is a typical example of the sort of remark which people make when they talk about their own hobbies in public. They are not content with saying, " Garden ing (or sailing or folk-dancing or stamp-collecting) is fun ; we, do it because we like it, and that's that " : they must needs try to justify it on moral, social or medical grounds in order that other people may not accuse them of wasting time. This leads them into making wild, unfounded statements like the one quoted above. Harmony in the home my eye ! If you have ever had a gardening husband or wife or even parent you will long ago have discovered That of all hobbies it is the
most likely to lead to the break-up of domestic happiness. It is as unsociable as wireless : the inveterate gardener no sooner comes in at one door from the office than he goes out at another in pursuit of his mania, returning at dinner-time only to settle down for the evening to the study of bulb-catalogues. It is as tedious in its " shop " as hunting or golf : more so, in fact, because all its triumphs and its disappointments take place in the slowest of slow motion. Even the longest run, the weariest round, winds somewhere safe to sea in less time than it takes to bring one nasturtium from seed to prize- winning maturity. Finally, gardening is conducive to gossip (over the fence), bitterness (over borrowed implements), jealousy (over rival blooms), and dirt (over every floor in the house). And if what all this leads to is called harmony, then give me something old-fashioned and tuneful like Hindemith.
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