WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING 153 



thing. I am quite ashamed to take people 

 into my garden, and have them notice the 

 absence of onions. It is very marked. In 

 onion is strength ; and a garden without it 

 lacks flavor. The onion in its satin wrap- 

 pings is among the most beautiful of vege- 

 tables ; and it is the only one that represents 

 the essence of things. It can almost be said 

 to have a soul. You take off coat after coat 

 and the onion is still there. ; and, when the 

 last one is removed, who dare say that the 

 onion itself is destroyed, though you can 

 weep over its departed spirit ? If there is 

 any one thing on this fallen earth that the 

 angels in heaven weep over more than an- 

 other, it is the onion. 



I know that there is supposed to be a 

 prejudice against the onion ; but I think 

 chere is rather a cowardice in regard to it. 

 I doubt not that all men and women love the 

 onion; but few confess their love. Affec- 

 tion for it is concealed. Good New Eng- 

 landers are as shy of owning it as they are 

 of talking about religion. Some people have 



