CHAPTER XI 



SMALL FBUITS 



"Doubtless God could have made a better fruit than the 

 strawberry — but doubtless God never did." — I. Walton. 



The desire to get something for nothing, to 

 play without working, to transmute lead into 

 burning gold, are weaknesses of the human 

 race so ingrained that they are not easily over- 

 come. They represent longings that we all 

 have, some to a greater extent than others, per- 

 haps, but down under the surface we are much 

 alike. I always think of these things in con- 

 nection with small fruit-growing because in 

 that particular business this frailty of the 

 human clan is so often exposed. 



It may be that the name "small fruits" has 

 a misleading tang about it. Being small, I 

 presume that some prospective growers have 

 felt that it would be but little work to grow 

 them. Surely a lot of mere bushes, many of 

 which grow mid with no care at all, would not 

 require any special attention if planted on 

 some out-of-the way corner of the farm. We 

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