66 MY SUMMER IN A GARDEN. 



them at a slight advance. There are a great 

 many improvements which the garden needs ; 

 among them a sounding-board, so that the neigh- 

 bors' children can hear when I tell them to get 

 a little farther off from the currant-bushes. I 

 should also like a selection from the ten com- 

 mandments, in big letters, posted up conspicu- 

 ously, and a few traps, that will detain, but not 

 maim, for the benefit of those who cannot read. 

 But what is most important is, that the ladies 

 should crochet nets to cover over the straw- 

 berries. A good-sized, well-managed festival 

 ought to produce nets enough to cover my entire 

 beds ; and I can think of no other method of 

 preserving the berries from the birds next year. 

 I wonder how many strawberries it would need 

 for a festival, and whether they would cost more 

 than the nets. 



I am more and more impressed, as the sum- 

 mer goes on, with the inequality of man's fight 



