MY REAL ESTATE. 15 



greedy men would have come with baskets 

 and carried them all away. Except some 

 scattered rose - hips, I have enumerated 

 everything that looked edible, I believe, 

 though a hungry man's eyes might have 

 lengthened the list materially. The cherry- 

 trees, hickories, and oaks were not yet in 

 bearing, as the horticultural phrase is ; but 

 I was glad to run upon a clump of bay berry 

 bushes, which offer nothing good to eat, to 

 be sure, but are excellent to smell of. The 

 leaves always seem to invite crushing, and 

 I never withhold my hand. 



Among the crowd of young trees scrub 

 oaks, red oaks, white oaks, cedars, ashes, 

 hickories, birches, maples, aspens, sumachs, 

 and hornbeams was a single tupelo. The 

 distinguished name honors my catalogue, 

 but I am half sorry to have it there. For, 

 with all its sturdiness, the tupelo does not 

 bear competition, and I foresee plainly 

 that my unlucky adventurer will inevitably 

 find itself overshadowed by more rapid 

 growers, and be dwarfed and deformed, if 

 not killed outright. Some of the very 

 strongest natures (and the remark is of 

 general application) require to be planted 



