WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 31 



THIRD WEEK. 



I BELIEVE that I have found, if not orig- 

 inal sin, at least vegetable total depravity in 

 my garden ; and it was there before I went 

 into it. It is the bunch, or joint, or snake- 

 grass, whatever it is called. As I do not 

 know the names of all the weeds and plants, 

 I have to do as Adam did in his garden, 

 name things as I find them. This grass has 

 a slender, beautiful stalk: and when you 

 cut it down or pull up a long root of it, you 

 fancy it is got rid of ; but in a day or two 

 it will come up in the same spot in half a 

 dozen vigorous blades. Cutting down and 

 pulling up is what it thrives on. Extermi- 

 nation rather helps it. If you follow a 

 slender white root,*it will be found to run 

 under the ground until it meets another slen- 

 der white root ; and you will soon unearth a 

 network of them, with a knot somewhere, 



