Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/157

 OR, VULCAN S PEAK. 151 In consequence of this rule, he soon learned how little was really necessary for the wants of one person, it being his opinion that a quarter of an acre of such soil as that which now composed his garden, would more than furnish all the vegetables he could consume. The soil, it is true, was of a very superior quality. Although it had lain so long un productive and seemingly barren, now that it had been stirred, and air and water were admitted, and guano, and sea-weed, and loam, and dead fish had been applied, and all in quantities that would have been deemed very ample in the best wrought gardens of Christendom, the acre he had under tillage might be said to have been brought to the highest stage of fertility. It wanted a little in consis tency, perhaps ; but the compost heap was very large, containing enough of all the materials just mentioned to give the garden another good dressing. As for the grass, Mark was convinced the guano was all-sufficient for that, and this he took care to apply as often as once in two or three months. Our young man was never tired, indeed, with feasting his eyes with the manner in which the grass had spread over the mount. It is true, that he had scattered seed, at odd and favourable moments, over most of it, by this time ; out he was persuaded the roots of those first sown would lave extended themselves, in the course of a year or two, sickly, threatening as early an extinction as they had been quick in coming to maturity. On the contrary, after Breaking what might be called the crust of the rock with their vigorous though nearly invisible roots, they made a bed for themselves, on which they promised to repose for ages. The great frequency of the rains favoured their growth, and Mark was of opinion after the experience of Dne summer, that his little mountain might be green the year round. We have called the mount of the crater little, but the term ought not to be used in reference to such a hill, when the extent of the island itself was considered. By actual measurement, Mark had ascertained that there was one knoll on the Summit which was just seventy-two feet above the level -Df the rocL The average height, however, might
 * &amp;gt;ver the whole Summit. Nor were these grasses thin and