SOMETIME 



my soul. And yet constant vigilance is the price of a 

 garden, and procrastination may steal one's choicest ef 

 fects. 



As for instance ; one warm morning in middle August, 

 glancing at the green lawn on my way down to break 

 fast, I detected a strange drapery of tossing white 

 plumes above a lilac bush some ten feet high. The wild 

 clematis (Virginiana) was now flinging its fleecy mantle 

 in graceful folds over the Indian currants and rose 

 bushes, the aromatic sumac and bayberries, the dog 

 woods and milkweed stalks, until the whole shrubbery 

 was again in flower; but this spiky efflorescence bore na 



! resemblance to the stars of our Virgin's bower. With 

 a mental memorandum to look into the matter at once 

 I went down to my guests, and it was not until late after 

 noon that I found a moment to take my bag of imple 

 ments and don my sun hat and sally forth on a tour of 

 investigation, to the small grove known as the lilac bed. 

 Yes, high above my head, completely enveloping a 

 mammoth shrub, flaunted that particular dislike of mine, 



the wild cucumber. This disagreeable weed may have 



is 273 



