THE KITCHEN-GARDEN 



spinach, we do not despise. What more beautiful orchid than the 

 martynia blossom What more lovely hibiscus than the yellow 

 okra ? The scarlet runners on their high poles repeat the color of 

 the peppers at their feet, and on the eastern boundary the plumy 

 mass of asparagus with its bright berries attracts the autumn 

 migrants and winter visitors. In June we steal a great bunch of 

 the tall feathery blossoms of the pie-plant for the dull green jar 

 by the fire-place in the living-room, and some day we may puzzle 

 our citv friends still more bv transferring the vellow green of the 



* . 



lettuce gone to seed, to its proper place in the middle of the 

 dining-room table! 



Unconsciously I may have given the impression that our kitch- 

 en garden is principally a thing of beauty, attractive to the eye, but 

 with mediocre results in regard to its products. This im- 

 pivssion I wish most emphatically to dispel. As we pick our 

 vegetables smaller and younger than most people do, naturally 

 they would not make a wonderful display at County Fairs, but 

 we did get a first prize for celery and for kohlrabi too, and a 

 second for cucumbers, but our highest achievement was an Honor- 

 able Mention for carrots! 



The Constant Improver is certainly a worthy descendant of 

 Adam as far as tomatoes are concerned ; for I believe that according 

 to the higher criticism the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and 

 evil was really a tomato most luscious and tempting, which had 



climbed the tree in the midst of the Garden. Indeed he is so fond 



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