MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 21 



THIRD WEEK. 



T BELIEVE that I have found, if not 

 -T- original sin, at least vegetable total 

 depravity in my garden; and it was 

 there before I went into it. It is the 

 bunch, or joint, or snake-grass, what 

 ever it is called. As I do not know the 

 names of all the weeds and plants, I 

 have to do as Adam did in his garden, 

 name things as I find them. This grass 

 has a slender, beautiful stalk : and when 

 you cut it down, or pull up a long root 

 of it, you fancy it is got rid of; but, in 

 a day or two, it will come up in the same 

 spot in half a dozen vigorous blades. 

 Cutting down and pulling up is what 

 it thrives on. Extermination rather 

 helps it. If you follow a slender white 



