76 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



dian in a company where the melon is a mi- 

 nor gentleman. I might also contrast the 

 celery with the potato. The associations 

 are as opposite as the dining-room of the 

 duchess and the cabin of the peasant. I 

 admire the potato, both in vine and blossom ; 

 but it is not aristocratic. /' I began digging 

 my potatoes, by the way, about the 4th of 

 July ; and I fancy I have discovered the 

 right way to do it. I treat the potato just 

 as I would a cow. I do not pull them up, 

 and shake them out, and destroy them ; but 

 I dig carefully at the side of the hill, remove 

 the fruit which is grown, leaving the vine 

 undisturbed : and my theory is that it will 

 go on bearing, and submitting to my exac- 

 tions, until the frost cuts it down. It is a 

 game that one would not undertake with a 

 vegetable of tone. | 



The lettuce is to me a most interesting 

 study. Lettuce is like conversation : it must 

 be fresh and crisp, so sparkling that you 

 scarcely notice the bitter in it. Lettuce, like 

 most talkers, is, however, apt to run rapidly 



