78 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



tomato plants, bean stalks, and other things 

 which a friend of mine, an expert in such 

 matters, assured me were curiosities of mal- 

 formation and backwardness. My Irishman 

 told me that it was all for want of manure, and 

 by his advice I bought six dollars' worth of 

 manure from a neighboring stable, and had it 

 spread over the ground. The bills for my gar- 

 den were meanwhile mounting up. I had 

 begun the spring with a garden ledger, keeping 

 an accurate account of every penny spent, and 

 hoping to put on the other side of the page a 

 tremendous list of fine vegetables. The ac- 

 counts are before me now, and I presume that 

 every one who has been through the same ex- 

 perience has preserved some such record. 



The tools, rakes, forks, spades, hose, water- 

 ing pots, lawn-mower, etc., cost me $18. 

 Wages to my stalwart friend during the 

 whole season were $26.00; seeds were $2.80, 

 manure, $6.00 ; wire fencing, made neces- 

 sary in order to keep out a flock of my neigh- 

 bors' hens laboring under the idea that in 

 my garden were to be found the best insects 

 of the whole neighborhood, and acting upon 

 this belief, $5.00 total, $57.80. Of this 



