CROPS AND PROFITS 



A straight line is not greatly more difficult 

 to make than a crooked one. The absurd bor- 

 ders, indeed, where dirt is thrown into line, 

 and beaten with a spade, is a mere caprice, 

 which there is no need to imitate; but the neat- 

 ness which belongs to true lines of plants, regu- 

 lar intervals between crops, perfect cleanliness, 

 is another matter; and is so feasible and so 

 telling in effect, that no farmer has good ex- 

 cuse for neglecting it. Effective groupings, 

 again, of dwarf trees and fruit shrubbery, 

 whether in rows, curves, or by gradations of 

 size, give points of interest, and contribute to 

 the attractions of a garden. 



It is not a little odd that the back-country 

 gentleman, who replies to all such suggestions, 

 that he cares nothing for appearances — shall 

 yet never venture to a militia muster, or a town 

 meeting, without slipping into the "press" for 

 the old black-coat, and the black beaver (giv- 

 ing it a coquettish wipe with his elbow) — to 

 say nothing of the startling shirt-collars, whose 

 poise he studies before the keeping-room mirror. 



He contracts too for a staring white coat 

 of paint upon his house and palings, and a 

 mahogany-colored door, out of the same irre- 

 sistible regard to "what people will say." But 

 in all this, he does not do one half so much 



183 



