WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. Ill 



signal of distress. I desire to be surrounded 

 only by healthy, vigorous plants and trees, which 

 require constant cutting-in and management. 

 Merely to cut away dead branches is like per- 

 petual attendance at a funeral, and puts one in 

 low spirits. I want to have a garden and or- 

 chard rise up and meet me every morning, with 

 the request to "lay on, Macduff." I respect old 

 age ; but an old currant-bush, hoary with mossy 

 bark, is a melancholy spectacle. 



I suppose the time has come when I am ex- 

 pected to say something about fertilizers : all 

 agriculturists do. When you plant, you think 

 you cannot fertilize too much : when you get the 

 bills for the manure, you think you cannot fer- 

 tilize too little. Of course you do not expect to 

 get the value of the manure back in fruits and 

 vegetables ; but something is due to science, 

 to chemistry in particular. You must have a 

 knowledge of soils, must have your soil analyzed, 



