WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 145 



the next night, and taken the remainder of 

 the grapes. The truth is that the public 

 morality is lax on the subject of fruit. If 

 anybody puts arsenic or gunpowder into his 

 watermelons, he is universally denounced 

 as a stingy old murderer by the community. 

 A great many people regard growing fruit 

 as lawful prey, who would not think of 

 breaking into your cellar to take it. I found 

 a man once in my raspberry-bushes, early in 

 the season, when we were waiting for a dish- 

 ful to ripen. Upon inquiring what he was 

 about, he said he was only eating some ; and 

 the operation seemed to be so natural and 

 simple that I disliked to disturb him. And 

 I am not very sure that one has a right to 

 the whole of an abundant crop of fruit un- 

 til he has gathered it. At least in a city 

 garden, one might as well conform his theory 

 to the practice of the community. 



As for children (and it sometimes looks 

 as if the chief products of my garden were 

 small boys and hens), it is admitted that 

 they are barbarians. There is no exception 



