MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 173 



seen gardens which were all experiment, 

 given over to every new thing, and 

 which produced little or nothing to the 

 owners, except the pleasure of expecta 

 tion. People grow pear-trees at great 

 expense of time and money, which never 

 yield them more than four pears to the 

 tree. The fashions of ladies bonnets 

 are nothing to the fashions of nursery 

 men. He who attempts to follow them 

 has a business for life ; but his life may 

 be short. If I enter upon this wide 

 field of horticultural experiment, I shall 

 leave peace behind ; and I may expect 

 the ground to open, and swallow me and 

 all my fortune. May Heaven keep me 

 to the old roots and herbs of my fore 

 fathers ! Perhaps, in the world of mod 

 ern reforms, this is not possible ; but I 

 intend now to cultivate only the stand 

 ard things, and learn to talk knowingly 

 of the rest. Of course, one must keep 



