142 3/7 SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



tomato, and the corn which did not 

 waste its sweetness on the desert air, 

 but, after flowing in a sweet rill through 

 all our summer life, mingled at last with 

 the engaging bean in a pool of succo 

 tash ? Shall I compute in figures what 

 daily freshness and health and delight 

 the garden yields, let alone the large 

 crop of anticipation I gathered as soon 

 as the first seeds got above ground ? 

 I appeal to any gardening man of sound 

 mind, if that which pays him best in 

 gardening is not that which he cannot 

 show in his trial-balance. Yet I yield 

 to public opinion, when I proceed to 

 make such a balance ; and I do it with 

 the utmost confidence in figures. 



I select as a representative vegetable, 

 in order to estimate the cost of garden 

 ing, the potato. In my statement, I 

 shall not include the interest on the 

 value of the land. I throw in the land, 



