WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 43 



FIFTH WEEK. 



I LEFT my garden for a week, just at the 

 close of the dry spell. A season of rain im- 

 mediately set in, and when I returned the 

 transformation was wonderful. In one week 

 every vegetable had fairly jumped forward. 

 The tomatoes which I left slender plants, 

 eaten of bugs and debating whether they 

 would go backward or forward, had become 

 stout and lusty, with thick stems and dark 

 leaves, and some of them had blossomed. 

 The corn waved like that which grows so 

 rank out of the French-English mixture at 

 Waterloo. The squashes I will not speak 

 of the squashes. The most remarkable 

 growth was the asparagus. There was not 

 a spear above ground when I went away ; 

 and now it had sprung up, and gone to seed, 

 and there were stalks higher than my head. 

 I am entirely aware of the value of words 



