Visitation

THE GARDENER

WHEN THE PROPERTY is expanded, the householder assigns his gardener the job of tearing down the fence and felling the pine trees on the highest part of what used to be the next-door property. The gardener saws the wood into pieces, chops it up for firewood and stacks the logs in the woodshed. He also uproots the bushes on the level clearing at the highest point of the newly acquired land and in late fall begins to dig holes for fruit trees. Five apple trees, three cherries and three pears at the householder’s request. As he digs he works his way through a thin layer of humus and then strikes bedrock and breaks through it, uncovering a layer of sand with groundwater coursing through it that displays a wave-like pattern showing how, thousands of years ago, the wind blew across the lake, and finally beneath this sand is the blue clay found everywhere in the region. The gardener digs the holes to a depth of 80 centimeters and then fills them with composted earth so the fruit trees will flourish. He diverts a few pipes from the underground drainage system he had set up on the original property so the young fruit trees will receive additional water. The gardener adds topsoil and sows grass seed between the young trees. By the time the first frost arrives, grass has sprouted on the bare soil.