WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 135 



of apparently perfectly domesticated chickens 

 were roaming over the ground, gossiping in the 

 hot September sun, and picking up any odd trifle 

 that might be left. On the whole, the garden 

 could not have been better seen to ; though it 

 would take a sharp eye to see the potato-vines 

 amid the rampant grass and weeds. 



The new strawberry- plants, for one thing, had 

 taken advantage of my absence. Every one of 

 them had sent out as many scarlet runners as an 

 Indian tribe has. Some of them had blos- 

 somed ; and a few had gone so far as to bear 

 ripe berries, long, pear-shaped fruit, hanging 

 like the ear-pendants of an East-Indian bride. 

 I could not but admire the persistence of these 

 zealous plants, which seemed determined to prop- 

 agate, themselves both by seeds and roots, and 

 make sure of immortality in some way. Even 

 the Colfax variety was as ambitious as the 

 others. After having seen the declining letter 



