118 MY VIXEYARD. 



in moss, and sent some distance by rail. Without any re- 

 markable incidents on the journey, we arrived here, and I 

 was shortly afterwards planted in the very spot where 

 you see nie now. 



The first summer passed very pleasantly. The soil 

 must have been nicely prepared. It was so exceedingly 

 mellow that my roots could get around with the greatest 

 ease. There was a little lime which I was glad to get 

 hold of now and then, because I am as fond of it as most 

 people are of salt. During the season I grew pretty much 

 according to my own notion, except when they thought a 

 lateral was getting a little too long, they stopped it. In 

 the fall they came along with pruning shears, which they 

 used in a careless sort of way, as is proven by the fact 

 that they cut me back to only fifteen inches in height. A 

 mighty pretty way that is to barber a fellow, thought I. 

 But as it seemed to be quite the f ishion among all my 

 neighbors, I did not so much cnre. 



The next spring they came along and rubbed off all but 

 my two upper buds. From these I produced two very 

 stout canes during the season, the laterals being kept 

 pretty closely pinched in. Feeling somewhat ambitious, 

 I produced this season a couple bunches of fruit, whereat 

 I felt as much pride as a boy does with his first whiskers, 

 or a hen over the first egg. The gardener who had charge 

 of me in those days, felt very much gratified. And I suj^pose 

 he was entitled to some reward for nil the trouble he had 



