46 THE VILLAGE GARDENER. 



and annoyance by small foes, we come now to take 

 a look of its interior; and for the following reasons 

 I venture to suppose, that the observations next to 

 be made will be judged worthy of your attention. 

 The village or the country gardener is a man that 

 has his price; he is not always to be had, and what 

 is worse, he is least to be had when he is most 

 needed. The seed time is his harvest, and in that 

 season of his importance, he must divide himself 

 amongst his customers. Thus your reeking furrow 

 impatient to receive the seed, must again get cold 

 and wet before the man of science makes his round, 

 and thus waiting for your man you lose your crop. 

 But know a little of the thing yourself, and with 

 the help of a common labourer, you have the time 

 and tide in your own hands. But look to the 

 workmanship of these men of price, and you will 

 discover your need of knowing more than they do. 

 How often do you see, on the best wall, every sort 

 of tree for "uniformity's sake," submitted to the 

 same rule of training, a rule too which in the case 

 of some is such as to prevent the possibility of 

 fruit-bearing. The fault may be in Nature, making 

 one tree to differ from another; but the fault must 

 not be in this man's science all must conform to 

 the same laws. He knows that the young wood is 

 an encumberance to the pear; and he lays down its 

 well trimmed branches with many a side-long glance 

 at their exquisite parallelism; and this delight were 

 marred if the plum might be any exception. It 

 insists, indeed, on not bearing a morsel of fruit 



