WHA1 1 KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 29 



ners. I suppose I could raise strawberries 

 enough for all my neighbors ; and perhaps I 

 ought to do it. I had a little space prepared 

 for melr/ns, musk-melons, which I showed 

 to an experienced friend. "You are not going 

 to waste your ground on musk-melons ? " he 

 asked. " They rarely ripen in this climate thor- 

 oughly, before frost." He had tried for years 

 without luck. I resolved to not go into such a 

 foolish experiment. But, the next day, another 

 neighbor happened in. " Ah ! I see you are 

 going to have melons. My family would rather 

 give up anything else in the garden than musk- 

 melons, of the nutmeg variety. They are the 

 most grateful things we have on the table." So 

 there it was. There was no compromise : it was 

 melons, or nc melons, and somebody offended in 

 any case. I half resolved to plant them a little 

 late, so that they would, and they would n't. But 

 I had the same difficulty about string-beans 



