SUCCESS WITH SMALL FRUITS. 



CHAPTER I. 



PRELIMINARY PARLEY. 



TN the ages that were somewhat shadowed, to say the 

 ''■ least, when Nature indulged her own wild moods in 

 man and the world he trampled on rather than cultivated, 

 there w^s a class who in their dreams and futile efforts be- 

 came the unconscious prophets of our own time, — the Al- 

 chemists. For centuries they believed they could transmute 

 base metals into gold and silver. Modem knowledge ena- 

 bles us to work changes more beneficial than the alchemist 

 ever dreamed of; and it shall be my aim to make one of 

 these secrets as open as the sunlight in the fields and gar- 

 dens wherein the beautiful mutations occur. To turn iron 

 into gold would be a prosaic, barren process that might 

 result in trouble to all concerned, but to transform heavy 

 black earth and insipid rain-water into edible rubies, with 

 celestial perfume and ambrosial flavor, is indeed an art that 

 appeals to the entire race, and enhsts that imperious nether 

 organ which has never lost its power over heart or brain. As 

 long, therefore, as humanity's mouth waters at the thought 

 of morsels more delicious even than " sin under the tongue," 

 I am sure of an audience when I discourse of strawberries 

 and their kindred fruits. If apples led to the loss of Para- 



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