WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 6 1 



iron pea-bush, a sort of trellis, through which 

 I could discharge electricity at frequent inter- 

 vals, and electrify the birds to death when they 

 alight : for they stand upon my beautiful brush 

 in order to pick out the peas. An apparatus of 

 this kind, with an operator, would cost, however, 

 about as much as the peas. A neighbor sug- 

 gests that I might put up a scarecrow near the 

 vines, which would keep the birds away. I am 

 doubtful about it : the birds are too much accus- 

 tomed to seeing a person in poor clothes in the 

 garden to care much for that. Another neigh- 

 bor suggests that the birds do not open the 

 pods ; that a sort of blast, apt to come after 

 rain, splits the pods, and the birds then eat the 

 peas. It may be so. There seems to be com- 

 plete unity of action between the blast and the 

 birds. But, good neighbors, kind friends, I de- 

 sire that you will not increase, by talk, a disap- 

 pointment which you cannot assuage. 



