34 AN ISLAND GARDEN 



is done, and, before I know it, I find it has begun 

 to tie the flowers together. Then I pull up all 

 the plants it has touched, lay them in a basket, 

 carry them down, and cast the whole into the sea. 

 It is the only way to be rid of it. I have known 

 it wind its inexorable way tightly up the large 

 smooth stem of a tall Sunflower, where I had not 

 thought of looking for it, till there was not an 

 atom of the skin of the stalk visible, only amber- 

 colored dodder and its white, dull flowers from 

 the great head of the blossoming Sunflower tree 

 to its root. Into the sea the whole thing went, at 

 once, without a moment of delay ! 



These are only a few of the weeds with which 

 one must battle, though dodder, I fancy, seldom 

 troubles any one on the planet as it does me. It 

 takes an island garden to produce so remarkable 

 a growth ! Most of them soon become familiar, 

 too familiar, indeed, and at last one learns how to 

 manage them. The great mistake which the 

 inexperienced gardener makes is in leaving a 

 morsel of the root of a weed in the ground. Only 

 by combing the earth through and through be- 

 tween the rows of plants with the small hand-fork 

 (after all the intruders have been removed as 

 carefully as possible with the hand), can you be 

 sure that they are gone. Other seeds of weeds 

 will be overturned and brought to the surface in 

 the process, and these will sprout in their turn, 

 but by this time the flowers will have made so 

 much headway that they will crowd out the new 

 crop of weeds enough to insure their own safety, 

 except in some few instances. Apple of Peru 



