and had
fallen into the habit of planting rows a good deal closer together than
the directions on the packets said--an economy of ground, but not of
toil. I had frequently weeded the beds, and had found that my feet were
not suited to working between rows six inches apart, while even a
baby-sized hoe had to be handled with great care. I said, now that we
had the space, we would separate our rows of beets and radishes and
salad full ten to fourteen inches, as advised by the authorities who had
written the package directions, and thus give both the plants and the
gardener more room.

But Elizabeth had acquired the economy habit. She declared that such
rows gave more room for the weeds and that it was too bad to waste the
rich ground in that way. I had to draw the most pathetic picture of
myself bending over in the hot sun, working with a toy hoe, and pulling
weeds with my fingers, through long July days, to effect a compromise.
Experience had taught me that this was the best way to get concessions
from Elizabeth. Little could be gained by polemic argument. Besides, it
was dangerous. She would resign, and a good deal more than half the joy
would go out of that precious employment if I was left to finish it
alone. Women are so volatile. It is their main attraction.

The Joy helped us. That is, she had a little hoe and insisted on digging
with it in the very places where we were raking and marking and sowing
and patting down the fragrant earth that was presently to wax green with
fruitfulness. She was not satisfied to go off in a remote corner and
make a garden of her own. She was strong for community life, and
required close watching. It was necessary, at last, to let her plant a
crooked little row without direction or artistic balance. Then she
suddenly remembered that she was not a gardener, but a horse, and
plowed and harrowed back and forth across the mellow ground.

We planted a number of things that first day of our gardening in Brook
Ridge--long rows of lettuce and radishes and pease--the last named two
kinds, the bush and dwarf varieties. Pease cannot be sown too early, nor
the other things, for that matter. I have known the ground to freeze
solid after lettuce and radishes had begun to sprout, without serious
resulting damage. We put in some beets, too, and some onions, but we
postponed the corn and bean planting. There is nothing gained by putting
those tender things in too early. Even if they sprout, they do no