74 FARMING IT 



and burning the entire collection in a bonfire of 

 kerosene-soaked refuse. 



I regarded this as the best day's work I had 

 accomplished on the farm, until I found some 

 days later that I had utterly eradicated what was 

 probably the finest bed of pie-plant in the com- 

 munity, and of all plants in the world, pie-plant 

 was the one I most loved. 



I was quite cast down about this, and when 

 this calamity was followed by a succession of 

 trials and reverses in my farm labor, I felt almost 

 disposed to close my house and take rooms at a 

 hotel. First, I forgot again, so careful was I not 

 unduly to expose the growing plants to the sud- 

 den changes of our Northern climate, to raise the 

 glass covers for the whole of an unusually warm 

 and sunny day, and as the beds were practically 

 air-tight, and the drawing power of the glass 

 very effective, I was again dismayed to find the 

 plants wilted and lifeless, but this time from ex- 

 treme heat and dryness. 



Then, to add to my discomfort and discour- 

 agement, a long cold rain set in, which was fol- 

 lowed by chill overcast skies ; and when at last 

 the sun condescended to shine, the witch-grass 

 which the weather had stimulated to its utmost, 

 while checking every other growth, had made such 

 enormous increase, that the cultivation of my 

 field had become an impossibility. 



