152 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



be utilized ; as, for instance, that which 

 has burned up my celery this year will 

 be converted into a force to work the 

 garden. % 



This sitting in the sun amid the 

 evidences of a ripe year is the easiest 

 part of gardening I have experienced. 

 But what a combat has gone on here ! 

 What vegetable passions have run the 

 whole gamut of ambition, selfishness, 

 greed of place, fruition, satiety, and now 

 rest here in the truce of exhaustion ! 

 What a battle-field, if one may look 

 upon it so ! The corn has lost its ammu 

 nition, and stacked arms, in a slovenly, 

 militia sort of style. The ground vines 

 are torn, trampled, and withered ; and 

 the ungathered cucumbers, worthless 

 melons, and golden squashes, lie about 

 like the spent bombs and exploded 

 shells of a battle-field. So the cannon- 

 balls lay on the sandy plain before Fort 



