WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 183 



first crop, is about as disagreeable as the ranker 

 and richer vice of city life, forced by artificial 

 heat and the juices of an overfed civilization. 

 There is no doubt that, on the whole, the rich 

 soil is the best : the fruit of it has body and 

 flavor. To what affluence does a woman (to 

 take an instance, thank Heaven, which is com- 

 mon) grow, with favoring circumstances, under 

 the stimulus of the richest social and intellec- 

 tual influences ! I am aware that there has 

 been a good deal said in poetry about the 

 fringed gentian and the harebell of rocky dis- 

 tricts and waysides, and I know that it is pos- 

 sible for maidens to bloom in very slight soil 

 into a wild-wood grace and beauty ; yet, the 

 world through, they lack that wealth of charms, 

 that tropic affluence of both person and mind, 

 which higher and more stimulating culture 

 brings, the passion as well as the soul glowing 

 in the Cloth-of-Gold rose. Neither persons not 



