BY WAY OF DEDICATION. 9 



and utterly cast it out. It is, however, to 

 be expected that retributive justice would 

 visit the innocent as well as the guilty of an 

 offending family. This is only another proof 

 of the wide sweep of moral forces. I sup- 

 pose that it is as necessary in the vegetable 

 world as it is elsewhere to avoid the appear- 

 ance of evil. 



In offering you the fruit of my garden, 

 which has been gathered from week to week, 

 without much reference to the progress of 

 the crops or the drought, I desire to ac- 

 knowledge an influence which has lent half 

 the charm to my labor. If I were in a court 

 of justice, or injustice, under oath, I should 

 not like to say, that, either in the wooing 

 days of spring, or under the suns of the sum- 

 mer solstice, you had been, either with hoe, 

 rake, or miniature spade, of the least use in 

 the garden ; but your suggestions have been 

 invaluable, and, whenever used, have been 

 paid for. Your horticultural inquiries have 

 been of a nature to astonish the vegetable 

 world, if it listened, and were a constant 



