WILL YOU WALK INTO MY GARDEN? II 



that they are smart. That is the word. They 

 have New England " faculty," and do every- 

 thing by a sort of sleight-of-hand that is almost 

 as surprising as a juggler's marvels. They are 

 as quick and sharp at a bargain as a steel trap. 

 Even while you are gingerly feeling them, and 

 considering the matter in the most circumspect 

 manner, as you think, you are caught before 

 you know it. They are people who do not 

 need capital. They invest their wits, and usu- 

 ally get the Dutchman's " von per shent." 

 Their eyes are natural microscopes, and see 

 chances and openings that are blank walls to 

 ordinary mortals. Now, I have no doubt that 

 there is a scope for this kind of shrewdness in 

 tfie garden, although Dame Nature is a very 

 natter-of-fact old lady, and not to be imposed 

 upon. Unless her rules and moods are com- 

 plied with, "we waste our sweetness on the 

 desert air." It is astonishing what credulous 



