CROPS AND PROFITS. 179 



Then, with baskets we sally out ; I taking the 

 middle rank, and the children the outer spray of 

 boughs. Even now we gather those only which 

 drop at the touch ; these, in a brimming saucer, with 

 golden Alderney cream, and a soupgon of powdered 

 sugar, are Olympian nectar ; they melt before the 

 tongue can measure their full roundness, and seem to 

 be mere bloated bubbles of forest honey. 



There is a scratch here and there, which calls 

 from the children a half-scream ; but a big berry on 

 the lip cures the smart ; and for myself, if the thorns 

 draggle me, I rather fancy the rough caresses, and re- 

 peat with the garden poet (humming it half aloud) : 



Bind me, ye woodbines, in your twines ; 

 Curl me about, ye gadding vines ; 

 And oh ! so close your circles lace, 

 That I may never leave this place ; 

 But, lest your fetters prove too weak, 

 Ere I your silken bondage break, 

 Do you, brambles, chain me too, 

 And, courteous briers, nail me through. 



Grapes. 



IF the associations of the gooseberry are British, 

 those of the vine are thoroughly Juda3an. 

 There is not a fruit that we grow, which has so ven- 

 erable and so stately a history. Who does not 

 remember the old Biblical picture in all the primers, 



I 



