WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 153 



the leaves and the interlacing vines and the 

 supporting tendrils ; and then I like to hold up 

 each bunch and look at it in the sunlight, and 

 get the fragrance and the bloom of it, and show 

 it to Polly, who is making herself useful, as 

 taster and companion, at the foot of the ladder, 

 before dropping it into the basket. But we have 

 other company. The robin, the most knowing 

 and greedy bird out of paradise (I trust he will 

 always be kept out), has discovered that the 

 grape-crop is uncommonly good, and has come 

 back, with his whole tribe and family, larger 

 than it was in pea-time. He knows the ripest 

 bunches as well as anybody, and tries them all. 

 If he would take a whole bunch here and there, 

 say half the number, and be off with it, I should 

 not so much care. But he will not. He pecks 

 away at all the bunches, and spoils as many as 

 he can. It is time he went south. 



There is no prettier sight, to my eye, than a 

 7* 



