WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. ITI 



signal of distress. I desire to be surrounded 

 only by healthy, vigorous plants and trees, which 

 require constant cutting-in and management. 

 Merely to cut away dead branches is like per 

 petual attendance at a funeral, and puts one in 

 low spirits. I want to have a garden and or 

 chard rise up and meet me every morning, with 

 the request to &quot;lay on, Macduff.&quot; I respect old 

 age ; but an old currant-bush, hoary with mossy 

 bark, is a melancholy spectacle. 



I suppose the time has come when I am ex 

 pected to say something about fertilizers : all 

 agriculturists do. When you plant, you think 

 you cannot fertilize too much : when you get the 

 bills for the manure, you think you cannot fer 

 tilize too little. Of course you do not expect to 

 get the value of the manure back in fruits and 

 vegetables ; but something is due to science, 

 to chemistry in particular. You must have a 

 knowledge of soils, must have your soil analyzed, 



