MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 75 



or any flavor of high society among 

 vegetables. Then there is the cool 

 cucumber, like so many people, good 

 for nothing when it is ripe and the 

 wildness has gone out of it. How infe 

 rior in quality it is to the melon, which 

 grows upon a similar vine, is of a like 

 watery consistency, but is not half so 

 valuable ! The cucumber is a sort of 

 low comedian in a company where the 

 melon is a minor gentleman. I might 

 also contrast the celery with the potato. 

 The associations are as opposite as 

 the dining-room of the duchess and the 

 cabin of the peasant. I admire the 

 potato, both in vine and blossom; but 

 it is not aristocratic. I began digging 

 my potatoes, by the way, about the 

 4th of July; and I fancy I have dis 

 covered the right way to do it. I treat 

 the potato just as I would a cow. I 

 do not pull them up, and shake them 



