WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 155 



Europe, all the sworn devotees of the mystic 

 Mary Ann, eat of the common vegetable. 

 Their oaths are strong with it. It is the food, 

 also, of the common people of Italy. All 

 the social atmosphere of that delicious land 

 is laden with it. Its odor is a practical 

 democracy. In the churches all are alike ; 

 there is one faith, one smell. The entrance 

 of Victor Emmanuel into Rome is only the 

 pompous proclamation of a. unity which gar- 

 lic had already accomplished ; and yet we, 

 who boast of our democracy, eat onions in 

 secret. 



I now see that I have left out many of the 

 most moral elements. Neither onions, pars- 

 nips, carrots, nor cabbages are here. I have 

 never seen a garden in the autumn before 

 without the uncouth cabbage in it ; but my 

 garden gives the impression of a garden 

 without a head. The cabbage is the rose 

 of Holland. I admire the force by which it 

 compacts its crisp leaves into a solid head. 

 The secret of it would be priceless to the 

 world. We should see less expansive fore- 



