PRELIMINARY PARLEY. 1 9 



In every field of life those who seek the fruit too rashly are 

 almost sure to have a thorny experience, and to learn that 

 prickings are provided for those who have no consciences. 



He who sees in the world around him only what strikes 

 the eye lives in a poor, half- furnished house ; he who ob- 

 tains from his garden only what he can eat gathers but a 

 meagre crop. If I find something besides berries on my 

 vines, I shall pick it if so inclined. The scientific treatise, 

 or precise manual, may break up the well-rooted friendship 

 of plants, and compel them to take leave of each other, 

 after the arbitrary fashion of methodical minds, but I must 

 talk about them very much as nature has taught me, since, 

 in respect to out-of-door Hfe, my education was acquired 

 almost wholly in the old-fashioned way at the venerable 

 " dame's school." Nay more, I claim that I have warrant 

 to gather from my horticultural texts more than can be sent to 

 the dining-table or commission merchant. Such a matter- 

 of-fact plant as the currant makes some attempt to em- 

 broider its humble life with ornament, and in April the bees 

 will prove to you that honey may be gathered even from a 

 gooseberry bush. Indeed, gooseberries are Hke some la- 

 dies that we all know. In their young and blossoming days 

 they are sweet and pink-hued, and then they grow acid, 

 pale, and hard ; but in the ripening experience of later life 

 they become sweet again and tender. Before they drop from 

 their places the bees come back for honey, and find it. 



In brief, I propose to take the reader on quite an ex- 

 tended ramble among the small fruits. It is much the 

 same as if I said, " Let us go a-strawberrying together," 

 and we talked as we went over hill and through dale 

 in a style somewhat in harmony with our wanderings. 

 Very many, no doubt, will glance at these introductory 

 words, and decline to go with me, correctly feeling that 



