WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 151 



up- ; and it took me a long time ; for it takes 

 a conscientious man some time to decide which 

 are the best and healthiest plants to spare. Af- 

 ter all, I spared too many. That is the great 

 danger everywhere in this world (it may not be 

 in the next) ; things are too thick : we lose all 

 in grasping for too much. The Scotch say, that 

 no man ought to thin out his own turnips, be- 

 cause he will not sacrifice enough to leave room 

 for the remainder to grow : h^ should get his 

 neighbor, who does not care for the plants, to 

 do it. But this is mere talk, and aside from the 

 point : if there is anything I desire to avoid in 

 these agricultural papers, it is digression. I did 

 think that putting in these turnips so late in the 

 season, when general activity has ceased, and in 

 a remote part of the garden, they would pass 

 unnoticed. But Nature never even winks, as I 

 can see. The tender blades were scarcely out 

 of the ground when she sent a small black fly, 



