WHAT 1 KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 53 



for he is a reasonable cat, and understands 

 pretty much everything except the binomial 

 theorem and the time down the cycloidal 

 arc. But with no effect. The killing of 

 birds went on, to my great regret and shame. 

 The other day I went to my garden to 

 get a mess of peas. I had seen the day be- 

 fore that they were just ready to pick. How 

 I had lined the ground, planted, hoed, bushed 

 them ! The bushes were very fine, seven 

 feet high, and of good wood. How I had 

 delighted in the growing, the blowing, the 

 podding ! What a touching thought it was 

 that they had all podded for me ! When I 

 went to pick them I found the pods all split 

 open, and the peas gone. The dear little 

 birds, who are so fond of the strawberries, 

 had eaten them all. Perhaps there were 

 left as many as I planted ; I did not count 

 them. I made* a rapid estimate of the cost 

 of the seed, the interest of the ground, the 

 price of labor, the value of the bushes, the 

 anxiety of weeks of watchfulness. I looked 

 about me on the face of Nature. The wind 



