My Garden 77 



us the bay furnishes perhaps the most valuable 

 manure to be found along the coast the bony 

 fish which the fishermen get in their nets in 

 enormous quantities and either sell to factories 

 where the oil is squeezed out of them or throw 

 them on the land to be used by the farmers as 

 manure. Making a liberal estimate, I should 

 think that the actual money value of the fish, 

 crabs, and oysters that I get during the sum- 

 mer must be at the least one hundred dollars, 

 and this is sport, as many city men will admit, 

 and none the less sport because done week after 

 week, and not during a few days' escape from 

 the city. 



I still remember with something like enthu- 

 siasm the impression that the famous book 

 much ridiculed but nevertheless of serious value 

 to so many persons, Ten Acres Enough, made 

 upon me many years ago. At the time when 

 I came across it by chance I was very tired of 

 city life, of late hours and long hours, of nerv- 

 ous strain, of incessant work with few breath- 

 ing spells. My routine at that time consisted 

 of steady labor from nine o'clock in the morn- 

 ing until twelve o'clock at night with very few 



