Rural School Leaflet 809 



My father is a breeder of pure-bred sheep, and I love to see the young 

 lambs growing up. I have noticed that the improvement of the flock 

 came from breeding by selection. 



As my letter is growing long I fear you will not have time to read the 

 other letters which are probably coming into your office. Thanking you 

 for this interesting leaflet, I am, 



Your friend, 



Stella N. Weatherby. 



White Creek, N. Y. 



Feb. 6, 19 1 2 

 Edward M. Tuttle 



College of Agriculture 

 Ithaca, N. Y. 

 My dear Mr. Tuttle: 



In your letter you asked us to write to you soon, but different things 

 have prevented me from doing so. This afternoon we have devoted 

 to writing a letter to you. 



I have received James Vicks' Sons' catalogue and am making out my 

 seed order. I am going to get some white dent corn and many kinds of 

 vegetables for my own garden this year. I have a box of dirt in the cellar 

 already to put in my hotbed this spring. We have a book in our school 

 library which is entitled " Agriculture for Beginners." It is from this 

 book that I learned how to make and take care of a hotbed. I sowed 

 some tomato seeds in a dish in the house. After they were big enough 

 I transplanted them into dried-beef cans. I kept them in a sunny window 

 and watered them well and they grew very fast. I raised all of my other 

 plants in my hotbed. I had about one hundred and fifty tomato plants. 

 Some were the Earliana and some the Stone tomatoes, I had about 

 eight bushels of tomatoes and sold most of them. The rest mother used 

 for pickling and canning. I also had about twenty-five pepper plants, 

 some potatoes, and cucumbers. I sold tliree bushels of potatoes at a 

 dollar a bushel. I made over five dollars out of my garden last year. 

 I had a large bed of small vegetables, such as radish, lettuce, turnips, and 

 beets. At one side of this bed I had a row of celery and at the other side 

 a bed of strawberries. At first I had only twelve plants given to me and 

 one of them died. The rest grew well and there are several runners on 

 each plant. This spring I will clip the runners and transplant the straw- 

 berries in rows where a cultivator can be run through. 



I also take a great interest in flowers. Last year my petunias and 

 asters did very well. Every year I try to have a more attractive and well- 

 arranged flower garden. I do not have my flower gardens all over the 

 lawn. You suggested that lawns do not look so well with flower gardens 

 all over them, making it hard to m.ow. Ey the time we write our next 

 letters to you we will probably have our hotbeds made and we can tell 

 you all about them. 



Yours very sincerely, 

 33 Frederick L. Masten, 



