WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. l8l 



long the forces of chemistry will be mustering 

 under ground, repairing the losses, calling up 

 the reserves, getting new strength from my sur- 

 face-fertilizing bounty, and making ready for 

 the spring campaign. They will open it before 

 I am ready : while the snow is scarcely melted, 

 and the ground is not passable, they will begin 

 to move on my works ; and the fight will com- 

 mence. Yet how deceitfully it will open to the 

 music of birds and the soft enchantment of the 

 spring mornings ! I shall even be permitted to 

 win a few skirmishes : the secret forces will 

 even wait for me to plant and sow, and show 

 my full hand, before they come on in heavy 

 and determined assault. There are already 

 signs of an internecine fight with the devil- 

 grass, which has intrenched itself in a con- 

 siderable portion of my garden-patch. It con- 

 tests the ground inch by inch ; and digging it 

 out is very much such labor as eating a piece 



