WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 45 



wire-screen over each hill, which will keep out 

 the bugs and admit the rain. I should say that 

 these screens would not cost much more than 

 the melons you would be likely to get from the 

 vines if you bought them ; but then think of the 

 moral satisfaction of watching the bugs hovering 

 over the screen, seeing, but unable to reach the 

 tender plants within. That is worth paying for. 

 I left my own garden yesterday, and went over 

 to where Polly was getting the weeds out of one 

 of her flower-beds. She was working away at 

 the bed with a little hoe. Whether women 

 ought to have the ballot or not (and I have 

 a decided opinion on that point, which I should 

 here plainly give, did I not fear that it would 

 injure my agricultural influence), I am compelled 

 to say that this was rather helpless hoeing. It 

 was patient, conscientious, even pathetic hoeing ; 

 but it was neither effective nor finished. When 

 completed, the bed looked somewhat as if a hen 



