perhaps proved that I wasn't a fool by not parting with him then and
there.

"Come now, neighbor," I said, brusquely, "I know some things that
you don't, and there are affairs in which I could prove you to be as
green as I am in this matter. If you came to me I'd give you the
best advice that I could, and be civil about it into the bargain.
I've come to you because I believe you to be honest and to know what
I don't. When I tell you that I have a little family dependent on
me, and that I mean if possible to get a living for them out of the
soil, I believe you are man enough both to fall in with my plan and
to show a little friendly interest. If you are not, I'll go farther
and fare better."

As I fired this broadside he looked at me askance, with the pipe in
the corner of his mouth, then reached out his great brown paw, and
said,--

"Shake."

I knew it was all right now--that the giving of his hand meant not
only a treaty of peace but also a friendly alliance. The old fellow
discoursed vegetable wisdom so steadily for half an hour that his
pipe went out.

"You jest let that new-fangled truck alone," he said, "till you get
more forehanded in cash and experience. Then you may learn how to
make something out of them novelties, as they call 'em, if they are
worth growing at all. Now and then a good penny is turned on a new
fruit or vegetable; but how to do it will be one of the last tricks