200 
GARDENS AND THEIR MEANING 
He knows very well that the plow will be required for at most 
a few days, and the harrow for certainly not longer. Spray- 
ing machines and large forks and spades, although at times 
imperative, would only be brought out occasionally and might 
not be used more than two weeks, all told. So, what with the 
delay of too few tools on the one hand and the extravagance 
of needless expense on the other, it is a toss-up between the 
rocks and the whirlpool. 
Let us suppose, however, that our farmer has managed to get 
rich crops without too great an outlay. He has hit the happy 
medium of buying a few first-rate tools and hiring some of 
the heavy labor. It is safe to say, then, that the stuffs he has 
raised will generously feed the family, and allow, besides, a 
good deal over. This overflow must find sale, if possible, in 
his own neighborhood. If not, the packing and shipping of 
perishable goods to a distant market seriously complicates the 
whole business. Transportation all too often swallows up the 
profits ; and so, little by little, our producer must withdraw 
from a losing game. Not only that ; the habit grows upon 
him of shutting his eyes to opportunities of every sort, until 
he becomes too timid to take even the most innocent risks. 
He settles down and becomes a perfect mollusk. 
Nearly every countryside furnishes illustrations of such 
conditions. One illustration that recently came under the 
writer’s eye is the petering out ” of the strawberry business 
in a New Hampshire county. The township lies about one 
hundred twenty-five miles from Boston, plus four miles from 
a railroad station. At such a distance country produce might 
be supposed to be practically free from " down-country ” 
competition. Besides, at the height of the strawberry season 
summer residents arrive, eager to feast upon a generous diet 
of native vegetables and fruit. The prices for strawberries 
run as follows : native berries fifteen cents per quart, sold 
