WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 43 



much, and interfere with the growth of the 

 vegetables. There may be something in this: 

 but when I go down the potato rows, the rays 

 of the sun glancing upon my shining blade, the 

 sweat pouring from my face, I should be grateful 

 for shade. Whar Is a garden for ? The pleasure 

 of man. I should take much more pleasure in a 

 shady garden. Am I to be sacrificed, broiled, 

 roasted, for the sake of the increased vigor of a 

 few vegetables ? The thing is perfectly absurd. 

 If I were rich, I think I would have my garden 

 covered with an awning, so that it would be com 

 fortable to work in it. It might roll up and be 

 removable, as the great awning of the Roman 

 Coliseum was, not like the Boston one, which 

 went off in a high wind. Another very good 

 way to do, and probably not so expensive as the 

 awning, would be to have four persons of foreign 

 birth carry a sort of canopy over you as you 

 hoed. And there might be a person at each end 



