WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 63 



return in the way of labor. But I find, in dis- 

 secting a pea-blossom, that hidden in the centre 

 of it is a perfect miniature pea-pod, with the 

 peas all in it, as perfect a pea-pod as it will 

 ever be ; only it is as tiny as a chatelaine orna- 

 ment. Maize and some other things show the 

 same precocity. This confirmation of the the- 

 ologic theory is startling, and sets me meditating 

 upon the moral possibilities of my garden. I 

 may find in it yet the cosmic egg. 



And, speaking of moral things, I am half 

 determined to petition the (Ecumenical Council 

 to issue a bull of excommunication against " pus- 

 ley." Of all the forms which " error " has taken 

 in this world, I think that is about the worst. 

 In the Middle Ages the monks in St. Bernard's 

 ascetic community at Clairvaux excommunicated 

 a vineyard which a less rigid monk had planted 

 near, so that it bore nothing. In 1120 a bishop 

 of Laon excommunicated the caterpillars in his 



