WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 23 



going. If you want anything to come to matu 

 rity early, you must start it in a hot-house. If 

 you put it out early, the chances are all in favor 

 of getting it nipped with frost ; for the thermom 

 eter will be 90 one day, and go below 32 the 

 night of the day following. And, if you do not 

 set out plants or sow seeds early, you fret con 

 tinually ; knowing that your vegetables will be 

 late, and that, while Jones has early peas, you 

 will be watching your slow-forming pods. This 

 keeps you in a state of mind. When you have 

 planted anything early, you are doubtful whether 

 to desire to see it above ground, or not. If 

 a hot day comes, you long to see the young 

 plants ; but, when a cold north-wind brings frost, 

 you tremble lest the seeds have burst their bands. 

 Your spring is passed in anxious doubts and 

 fears, which are usually realized ; and so a great 

 moral discipline is worked out for you. 



Now, there is my corn, two or three inches 



