'^ BRAINS AND MORE BRAINS 65 



in the successive rows, taking care that the corn 

 and potatoes and peas and other crops change 

 places from year to year. Then I get a pretty 

 farmerette or two — a product of the war which 

 almost makes one reconciled to it — or else a 

 mere man, to help me do the rest; and, mind 

 you, every detail, however trifling it may seem, 

 is of imperative importance. 



Gardening is a good deal like piano playing. 

 The hands are important, but the brain must 

 guide them every second, and the feet are 

 needed for the finest results. The pedal has 

 been called the soul of the pianoforte, and from 

 a tonal point of view it is. Pressing the right- 

 foot pedal raises the felt dampers from the 

 strings, the result being that when you hit one 

 key — say, C — you hear not only that tone, but 

 a dozen others through sympathetic vibration, 

 all of them blended into a rich, juicy tone which 

 the hands alone could never produce. 



Juicy vegetables are as dependent on the 

 co-operation of the feet as juicy piano tones. 

 Read Luther Burbank's chapter on **The All- 

 importance of Water," in Vol. VII of his Meth- 

 ods and Discoveries. "The richest soil that 

 was ever prepared would not grow a single blade 

 of grass or the tiniest weed if that soil were abso- 

 lutely dry." There are rain, to be sure, and 

 irrigation, but these are not always available 

 when needed. It is the baby plants that most 

 need water; they need it every second, and the 



