16 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



little late, so that they would; and they 

 wouldn t. But I had the same difficulty 

 about string-beans (which I detest), and 

 squash (which I tolerate), and parsnips, 

 and the whole round of green things. 



I have pretty much come to the con 

 clusion, that you have got to put your 

 foot down in gardening. If I had actu 

 ally taken counsel of my friends, I should 

 not have had a thing growing in the 

 garden to-day but weeds. And besides, 

 while you are waiting, Nature does not 

 wait. Her mind is made up. She 

 knows just what she will raise ; and she 

 has an infinite variety of early and late. 

 The most humiliating thing to me about 

 a garden is the lesson it teaches of the 

 inferiority of man. Nature is prompt, 

 decided, inexhaustible. She thrusts up 

 her plants with a vigor and freedom that 

 I admire ; and, the more worthless the 

 plant, the more rapid and splendid its 



