MARKETS. 107 



have been able to overstock the market, even 

 for a brief time. Nor could it be done with 

 these if they would only show a little consid- 

 eration in ripening. It may be misery to 

 them to be picked, and as " misery luves com- 

 pany," they all aim to meet their fate at once. 

 Some intensely hot day every berry on your 

 bushes will appear ripe. This occurs, too, at 

 the very worst time, just after the Fourth of 

 July, when people, having spent all their 

 money, and satiated themselves with good 

 things, have, in consequence, a little touch of 

 dyspepsia, cholera-morbus, or economical re- 

 morse. There is a thinning out at the hotels 

 and boarding-houses, and a general contrac- 

 tion. But in the garden there is a .general 

 expansion. Berries that were little green 

 knobs in the morning are red and ripe in the 

 evening, and the bushes suddenly become 

 purple and crimson all down the long rows 



