138 FIVE ACRES TOO MUCH. 



while visions of enormous fruit and invaluable off 

 shoots floated before my mind. The man, anxious, 

 no doubt, to keep the market to himself, suggested 

 that perhaps I had better divide the order and take 

 some of the ordinary kinds ; but his object was too 

 palpable to lead .me from my purpose. If the Bon- 

 heur Seedlings were good for him to keep, they were 

 better for me to plant, and so the order was not 

 changed. 



The drought of the summer continued, and, hav 

 ing parched the ground till it was as dry as an Irish 

 man s throat the morning after election day, gave no 

 signs of abating. September came in with a beauti 

 ful clear sky, remained with a beautiful clear sky, 

 and went out with a beautiful clear sky. September 

 is one of the finest months in the year, especially 

 when the cloudless heavens permit the sun to send 

 his warm beams to temper the cool breezes that be 

 gin to prevail, and, if a person has not a strawberry 

 bed on his mind, no weather can be more enjoyable ; 

 but when agricultural purposes demand rain, even 

 a cloudless September becomes tiresome. Patrick 

 waited in daily expectation. He had managed to 

 dig up the ground by the liberal use of a pickaxe 

 and crowbar ; but the sunshiny days were a trial to 

 him. 



