WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 165 



fully it Will open to the music of birds and 

 the soft enchantment of the spring morn- 

 ings ! I shall even be permitted to win a few 

 skirmishes ; the secret forces will even wait 

 for me to plant and sow, and show my full 

 hand, before they come on in heavy and de- 

 termined assault. There are already signs 

 of an internecine fight with the devil-grass, 

 which has intrenched itself in a considerable 

 portion of my garden-patch. It contests the 

 ground inch by inch ; and digging it out is 

 very much such labor as eating a piece of 

 choke-cherry pie with the stones all in. It 

 is work, too, that I know by experience I 

 shall have to do alone. Every man must 

 eradicate his own devil-grass. The neigh- 

 bors who have leisure to help you in grape- 

 picking time are all busy when devil-grass is 

 most aggressive. My neighbors' visits are 

 well timed : it is only their hens which have 

 all seasons for their own. 



I am told that abundant and rank weeds 

 are signs of a rich soil ; but I have noticed 

 that a thin, poor soil grows little but weeds. 



