No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 689 



paper, and this for one reason that be is a capable farmer, and more, 

 a manl}^ man, and is interesting too, because be writes of bis own 

 self failures, as well as of successes. Tbus writing of self-failures, 

 be bas your confidence and mine. In a bappy, social way, be re- 

 counts tbe battle witb bis own, and no otber fellows, conceit, nor 

 does be blame tbe otber fellow, but seems to enjoy tbe fun of it so far 

 as to be unable to resist telling us of tbis self-defeat, and tbus warn- 

 ing us against a treacberous notion born of bis own brain. All tbis 

 is a talk of self to be sure. I like it and otbers do I know, and tbis 

 too in part because life bas more failures in it tban triumpbs and, 

 as tbe saying goes, misery loves company. 



Wben a good, well balanced, smart farmer writes of self — be is 

 apt to toucb upon tbat nearest self everywbere, to wit upon bome and 

 tbe farm, wife, cbildren, animals, togetber witb neat tillage, followed 

 by fruitage and barvest, a self-earned crop. Is it not true tbat we 

 enjoy supremely a letter witb a good self and bappy, well ordered 

 bome as tbe inspiration of tbe letter? Tbere is tbe crop of cbildren 

 too, so near to all selves. Important it is to know how tbis crop 

 shall be grown into the ways and practices of tbe farm and a Chris- 

 tion life and shall be further imbued with tbe love of rural homes 

 and of the fields. How winningly my correspondent writes you and 

 me of the "bud" and the "graft," the names of the two latest born 

 of the family — the madam, tbe aunties, the grandmother lately dead, 

 tbe sweet memories of her, and the sorrowings and longings at tbe 

 sight of tbe broad, low, rocking-chair, emptied of the dear presence. 

 All tbe family identified witb the farm! Tbe way the little ones are 

 educated, the tasks they have and the fun that is going on, notwith- 

 standing the mortgage, tbat the rent of tbe town house is wearing 

 away. Then again, bow the old horse Major can still throw his stiff 

 legs in tbe air under a warm barn-yard sun and how be hauls so safely 

 the little ones to the circus and tbe oldsters to church. 



WAY-BACK WARNINGS AND HELP. 



There is aside from my favorite writer of self and family a monthly 

 column in a diiferent journal tbat is certainly attractive, including 

 cures, remedies and tricks, seeming to come from the ends of the 

 earth and all time and all tradition and yet to me are new as is new 

 wine from old bottles, or as new coin from an old stocking. Warn- 

 ings and helps that have come down tbe generations, almost from 

 Adam and Eve too, letting alone Cain, tbat have trickled out of each 

 generation as streams out of many mountain ranges, creating rivers 

 and a sea of revelation to the new born of tbe world. Wendell 

 Philips told so eloquently of tbe "lost arts" to us of ancient days. If 

 our Brother Critcbfield or Brother Martin could once more sit at tbe 

 feet of their grand ancestry of beloved memory, they could, as we 

 know, catch from their lips a bulletin of treasure in the way of farm 

 and bouse economics that would certainly surpass in broad utility, 

 if pulled up, tbat of Captain Kidd still at tbe bottom of tbe sea. The 

 Pennsylvania Eailroad Company nor the United States of America 

 nor has any national power equaled forgotten and lost India in its 

 contrivance, for almost the moving of a mountain in weight and the 

 topping of miraculous structures witb capstones of a tonnage im- 

 movable in tbis day. Thus there is more in heaven and earth tban 

 is dreamed of in our philosophy of now, and thus again it is worth 

 44—7—1904 



