THE SECRET OF THE SOIL 



ished on top by a row of ugly, shapeless, 

 irregular boulders. 



This long, ragged wall was the discord- 

 ant note, and ever and anon as my eye fell 

 upon it I felt that its harsh outline needed 

 toning down in some way. At last I de- 

 cided what to do, and the next day I 

 secured the assistance of a neighbouring lad 

 and sent him to the nearest meadow to dig 

 up a wheelbarrow full of "black-eyed 

 Susans," while I collected from a wayside 

 shrub a handful of the berries of the brill- 

 iant, red-berried elder. 



These treasures I lost no time in putting 

 into the ground. The black-eyed Susans 

 were planted that is to say, poked in 

 below the wall, and the little red berries 

 were also poked in on the upper side of the 

 boulders above. I knew these two plants 

 to be the hardiest and most irrepressible of 

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