MY GARDEN HOW IT GREW. 55 



gradually my garden has crept across it, till 

 some good souls, prone to see a dark and tragic 

 ending to most events, have intimated that it 

 would finally push my kindly landlord over the 

 bluff into the river. But though I would like 

 two or three more acres to develop my plans and 

 theories, as well as fruits and vegetables, I can 

 yet assure the reader that with the fate of Ahab 

 before my eyes, I am as law-abiding a citizen as 

 any in my parish. 



But no tragic means were necessary for the 

 gradual extension of my garden from the shaded 

 knoll described to its present proportions, for 

 my obliging neighbor kindly staked off about 

 half an acre, and that was my garden in '67. 

 Part of this ground was an apple orchard, and in 

 such dense shade that not even currants would 

 mature ; but the majority of it had a very good 

 exposure, and has contained some of my best 

 land ever since. When I took it the soil was in 



