Article April 26, 1919 Issue

Gardening

FREELAND HOWE, JR.

While working over a strawberry bed one morning, I found myself taking advantage of past experience with regard to the removal of grass and weeds. When with less experience I was caring for a similar bed, I was so strenuous and inconsiderate while weeding that I loosened the roots of a number of the plants so that they showed all stages of weakness, from complete drying up to a much reduced yield of berries.

It is always necessary to have the soil well prepared so that weeds are not present when the bed is started. Even so, we may find the soil well supplied with weed seeds which will easily sprout and grow unless the bed is constantly watched and tended. Bird and wind borne seeds of undesirable plants are constantly introduced to usurp the place intended for a fruit bearing crop. When the plants and the weeds are closely associated, strenuous methods will not do, for in this way the plants may be uprooted and destroyed. If a weed is close to the plant, it must be pulled gently away from the fruit bearer. A witch grass root may run directly beneath the spreading root system of the plant and may need to be pulled through the ground instead of up out of it. Each plant must have its own particular treatment, and it is impossible to determine in advance what this shall be. Sometimes it is necessary to discard all tools, get down on one's kness and do the most delicate handwork gently, in order to get the best results. We learn from the record of creation found in the second chapter of Genesis that God made "every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew."

That Christ Jesus employed the methods of the agriculturist as typifying the needed operations in the mental realm is very apparent as we study the gospels. In the fifteenth chapter of Matthew he says, "Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up;" and again in the thirteenth chapter he gives the well-known parable in which the destruction of the tares is explained. He tells us that the tares were sown by an enemy "while men slept;" and when the question is asked whether the tares should be quickly rooted up, the answer is, "Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them." He then explained to the questioning disciples that in due season the tares would be rooted up and destroyed, but it is deeply significant to find the further explanation, "The reapers are the angels." This may remind us of the definition of angels found on page 581 of Science and Health: "God's thoughts passing to man; spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect; the inspiration of goodness, purity, and immortality, counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality." This makes it very clear that only as God's thoughts come to us can we uproot the errors of mortal belief, whatever their nature; and we are also reminded that when we work from the standpoint of divine Love we shall not harm any of the unfolding spiritual ideas in our efforts to uncover and destroy error.

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Gardening

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access