"Maybe," I suggested tentatively, "you didn't mulch 'em."
"Oh, that doesn't make any difference."
"Doesn't it?"
"Not a bit."
And she bade me good evening, and passed on.
When I reached home and had eaten dinner, I told Jane that I was going to plant some sweet-peas. I described the process to her. She was very much interested, and offered to help. I dug the trench and put in the peas. I thought some bushes might do instead of Mrs. Creasus's trellis.
"Now," I said, "all they need is to be mulched."
"To be what?" asked Jane.
"Mulched. You always have to mulch sweet-peas; that is, Mrs. Creasus and General Bumpus, and Philip Morris say so, but Miss Abernathy thinks not."
"How do you do it?"