A Man With a Garden

New Zealand Listener, Volume 5, Issue 122, 24 October 1941, Page 5

A Man With a Garden

THis brings me to gardening as a hobby. Golf ‘"~ loses much of its fascination when the sun has sunk to rest and no living person is at hand to hear how.you foozled your drive at the ninth tee, but a man infatuated with his garden has no time for any relaxation except sleeping and eating. The moment he becomes slack, signs of his negligence

become only too apparent. His work is never done. But hope and the promises held out by the most alluring nurseryman’s catalogues bear him along. A man with a garden needs only faith and a seed catalogue. The rest of the world is very far away. My friend’s husband became interested in tropical fish, He brought home a tank, stocked with the beautifully coloured little things, and the aquatic plants necessary fot them. This was placed in a suitable position and duly admired by all who saw it. Then gradually tanks appeared on shelves in unexpected places, until the climax was reached when small breeding tanks were found in his dressing room. Realising that he must have some outlet for his energies: his wife suggested turning a small sunny dining-room ipto an aquarium. At once he exclaimed: "How soon could we get it ready?" Almost immediately the whole flat was re-arranged afd at 12 o’clock next day a lorry arrived with timber for shelvesand other necessary equipment. The aquarium finished up as a show place of the house, with the tanks ranging from 4 to 40 gallons automatically heated and lighted. — (" Hobbies for Husbands,’ by Mrs. Stamp-Taylor, 2Y A, October 6.)