70 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



were hewn down because they barred 

 the eastern light, and sent out too 

 many thirsty roots to suck the richness 

 of the field. The useless onion stones, 

 gleaned from the much-tilled ground, 

 are piled between the trunks of the 

 decaying trees, and nettles and worm- 

 wood sprout vigorously about them. 



If you serve Nature, waiting her 

 moods, taking what she yields un- 

 forced, giving her a love devoid of 

 greed, she will be a regal mistress, and 

 all she has to bestow will be yours. 

 Exact and say to one little field : " This 

 year you shall yield this crop or that," 

 and it becomes a battle-ground, where 

 Nature, well equipped, wages war with 

 man. 



The bare onion field is the last stand 

 of all. In early springtime, all the 

 ground is smoothed and swept of every 

 pebble, and the seed is sown. If it 



