WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 151 



up ; and it took me a long time ; for it takes 

 a conscientious man some time to decide which 

 are the best and healthiest plants to spare. Af 

 ter all, I spared too many. That is the great 

 danger everywhere in this world (it may not be 

 in the next) ; things are too thick : we lose all 

 in grasping for too much. The Scotch say, that 

 310 man ought to thin out his own turnips, be 

 cause he will not sacrifice enough to leave room 

 for the remainder to grow : h should get his 

 neighbor, who does not care for the plants, to 

 do it. But this is mere talk, and aside from the 

 point : if there is anything I desire to avoid in 

 these agricultural papers, it is digression. I did 

 think that putting in these turnips so late in the 

 season, when general activity has ceased, and in 

 a remote part of the garden, they would pass 

 unnoticed. But Nature never even winks, as I 

 can see. The tender blades were scarcely out 

 of the ground when she sent a small black fly, 



