Mrs. Frazer said she might. "These are not so large, so red, or so sweet
as some that I have gathered when I lived at home with my father," said
the nurse. "I have seen acres and acres of strawberries, as large as the
early scarlet that are sold so high in the market, on the Rice Lake
plains. When the farmers have ploughed a fallow on the Rice Lake plains,
the following summer it will be covered with a crop of the finest
strawberries. I have gathered pailsful day after day; these, however, have
been partly cultivated by the plough breaking up the sod; but they seem as
if sown by the hand of nature. These fruits, and many sorts of flowers,
appear on the new soil that were never seen there before. After a fallow
has been chopped, logged, and burnt, if it be left for a few years, trees,
shrubs and plants will cover it, unlike those that grew there before."

"That is curious," said the child. "Does God sow the seeds in the new
ground?"

"My lady, no doubt they come from Him; for He openeth his hand, and
filleth all things living with plenteousness. My father, who thought a
great deal on these subjects, said that the seeds of many plants may fall
upon the earth, and yet none of them take root till the soil be favourable
for their growth. It may be that these seeds had lain for years, preserved
in the earth, till the forest was cleared away, and the sun, air, and rain
caused them to spring up. Or the earth may still bring forth the herb of
the field, after its kind, as in the day of the creation; but whether it
be so or not, we must bless the Lord for his goodness and for the
blessings that He giveth us at all times."

"Are there many sorts of wild fruits fit to sat, nurse, in this country?
Please, will you tell me all that you know about them?"