can show whether this novelty will become a standard variety, but at
present the plants are in great demand.

The young people of a country home may become deeply interested in
originating new seedlings. A thousand strawberry seeds will produce a
thousand new kinds, and, although the prospects are that none of them
will equal those now in favor, something very fine and superior may be
obtained. Be this as it may, if these simple natural interests prevent
boys and girls from being drawn into the maelstrom of city life until
character is formed, each plant will have a value beyond silver or
gold.

One of the supreme rewards of human endeavor is a true home, and
surely it is as stupid as it is wrong to neglect some of the simplest
and yet most effectual means of securing this crown of earthly life. A
home is the product of many and varied causes, but I have yet to see
the man who will deny that delicious small fruits for eight months of
the year, and the richer pleasure even of cultivating and gathering
them, may become one of the chief contributions to this result. I use
the words "eight months" advisedly, for even now, January 29, we are
enjoying grapes that were buried in the ground last October. I suppose
my children are very material and unlike the good little people who do
not live long, but they place a white mark against the days on which
we unearth a jar of grapes.




CHAPTER III