266 FIVE ACRES TOO MUCH. 



CHAPTEE XIX. 



A GREAT RUNNER. 



E&quot; describing the unfortunate termination of my 

 efforts to winter our stock, I have advanced a 

 little beyond the regular order of events. There 

 was much other work to be done in the garden, even 

 without referring to the masses of bedding plants 

 and the quantities of new seeds that I had purchased. 

 As the third season opened, a renewed energy took^ 

 possession of me, and I went at digging and planting 

 like a giant refreshed. There was no longer a sense 

 of desolation around my place. The florists and nur 

 serymen, under my careful instruction, had set out 

 trees, and planted flowers, and got hedges in order, 

 until Nature in my five acres was bursting from a 

 smile into a grin. It is true that the cows of the 

 neighborhood, which were invariably allowed to roam 

 whithersoever they listed, had fed rather profusely on 

 the evergreens, breaking down the tops and nipping 

 off the ends of the branches ; that here and there the 

 hedges had died out, and left yawning gaps ; but, on 



