LITTLE GARDENS 



trouble on this score, let your garden-beds come 

 plumb to the edge of the walk, instead of leav- 

 mg the usual strip of grass between them. The 

 grass will never leave off trying to possess itself 

 of the whole premises, and the fight against it, 

 when it determines to go where it does not be- 

 long, will be unremitting. There is one variety, 

 a coarse and riotous sort, known as witch-grass, 

 that is downright uncanny in its sneaking and its 

 strenuousness. You are transplanting a mignon- 

 ette, perhaps, out of a crowded spot into a roomy 

 one, and have thrust your trowel four or five 

 inches into the earth, when you strike a long, 

 white, ropy root. Get a firm grip, and lift it, by 

 successive pulls, moving your hold nearer and 

 nearer to its starting-place, until you reach its 

 origin under a bunch of witch-grass and pluck 

 the whole thing. You will find that the bunch 

 has thrown out a star of these roots, some of 

 them two feet long, which are boring and explor- 

 ing in all directions, quite thankful to you for 

 loosening and fertilizing the soil for them in the 

 spring, and from each of these runners blades 

 are starting toward the air. In turn these blades 

 will become deeply anchored, and will send out 

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