the information I
desired as to how and when to plant them, an incident occurred which
gave me a complete knowledge of the whole theory of strawberry-culture.
I had gone with my mother, one Saturday evening, to a neighboring
grocery for certain articles we needed; and while standing at the
counter, awaiting our turn to be served, a boy came in with a large
bundle of old newspapers for sale as wrappers, placing it on the counter
directly beside me. Casting my eye upon it, I noticed that the outside
paper bore the title of "The New England Farmer." I then examined the
bundle, untied it, and found that there were many numbers of the same
journal, and underneath these a collection of "The Country Gentleman." I
had never seen an agricultural paper before, though our little penny
daily did occasionally contain extracts from some of them. I became
immediately interested. The thought struck me that this bundle of old
papers, now about to be used for such ignoble purposes as wrappers for
groceries, must contain stores of the very information I was so
laboriously seeking after. Hastily turning them over, my eye lighted on
an article headed "Strawberries: how to plant and how to cultivate
them." I was fairly dipping into it, when my mother, giving me a nudge,
told me she was ready to go. But it was far otherwise with me, and I
began bargaining with the boy for his bundle. That matter was soon
concluded, as the grocer declined buying; so I took them at a few cents
a pound. They came to nearly a dollar, but I had my week's wages in my
pocket, and am certain that I never made an investment so cheerfully,
nor any, considering the amount, that was half so useful to me as this.
Buying knowledge by the pound was quite a new idea with me.

I lugged the bundle home myself, and went into an examination of its
contents with the utmost enthusiasm. Indeed, the whole family shared it
with me, so that we were up till nearly midnight engaged in looking
after articles treating of the subject then uppermost in our minds. The
various numbers contained the collected experience of probably fifty
different cultivators of the strawberry, with a mass of information on
all matters pertaining to fruits and flowers. It took us a whole week to
obtain any tolerable idea of the contents, as our evenings only could be
spared for reading. The variety of experiences related was rather
confusing,--one writer telling how he had failed altogether, though
pursuing t