IG STA'L'P: POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



EXCUSE NOT ACCEPTED. 



To tliis end, then, wo look first to difficulties — botli real and imaginary — 

 that prevent the average farmer from having, throughout tiie wliole season, a 

 elioice selection of vegetables, and. I may add, small fruits, for tiiey suffer 

 cquallv with the vegetables at the hands of the careless farmer. Want of land 

 or room for a garden can be no excuse, for every farm, large or small, has its 

 '^irtirden spot,'' and it usually occupies enough territory for a really elaborate 

 affair. Koom, then, can be no excuse. The money required is of almost no 

 account; but time, or ratlier the want of it, is his great cry. Regardless of 

 the fact that it takes but little work to keep his garden clean — but a great deal 

 to <ret it so — he allows the weeds to come up, ilourish and ripen to haunt him 

 another vear. lie may pull a few for the pigs, but that only gives the rest a 

 better ciiance. I have no other argument upon the question of time, aside 

 from that it requires but little time, if properly used, tlian this: farmers can 

 never urge want of time as an excuse for the neglect of the garden and general 

 tidiness of the place, as long as so much time is absolutely wasted by the farm- 

 ing class ; wasted both by squandering time, and what is almost as bad, unnec- 

 essary labor, from the want of definite plans. Want of time, therefore, is not 

 a real difficulty but an imaginary one; let us see if there is one that is real. 



THE SUFFICIEXT REASON. 



Now, there are two things in this world that a man always dislikes to own 

 that he is j)ossessed of. These are ignorance and sin; and usually the more 

 he has of either the less liable is he to acknowledsre it. But if it comes to the 

 scratch, as we say, he will link the two together and call it the sin of ignor- 

 ance, and think it ought to be winked at. Who ever heard of a merchant, or 

 a })hysician, or a lawyer, or any professional man beginning his business with- 

 out preparation, and succeeding? Indeed, our professional men mostly believe 

 that thoroui:;h fittins: is a necessary antecedent to a successful business. Yet 

 many a farmer begins his work on the farm without the least bit of prepara- 

 tion, nor has he even acquired a disposition to experiment tmd to learn, lie is 

 not able to keep a good garden, simply because he does not know how. Work- 

 ing without a system, it takes all his time to supi)ly the bare demands of a 

 hunirrv stomach, and the finer tastes are not sfratified. 



^VORD OF CAUTION. 



Like all education, his must be a growth, and he must not reform too sud- 

 denly or he will very likely fail in many particulars, and it not meeting his 

 expectations, he will quit in disgust and conclude not to reform at all. Let 

 him begin with a few vegetables, well cared for, and increase his stock as ho 

 increases his ability by careful attention, by experiment and by reading. Then, 

 when he comes to a})preciate the fact that a good garden is a luxury, and 

 enjoyed by but few, he will take pride in devoting the little time needed, and 

 derive much satisfaction from a small outlay. 



SOME POPULAR DKIA'SIONS. 



Many notions, it seems to me, stand in the way of a good start in this direc- 

 tion from the fact that they have been handed "down from the remotest an- 

 tiquity, and have become habits. One is, that a garden must be fenced hen- 

 high and pig-tight. This leaves a stri[) around the edge of the garden that 

 cannot be touched with the plow, and we have the pleasant alternative of spad- 



