90 Missouri Agricultural Eeport. 



from men in all walks of life, and the tone of their letters tells me that 

 the hunger for land and a self-supy)orting home is inherent in every 

 right-minded man, and that the natural place for men to live is in the 

 country. City life at its best is an artificial one. 



The farmer certainly, has the best of it. He may work hard some of 

 the time, but it brings direct returns. "With the right kind of manage- 

 ment, the small farmer doesn't depend entirely on the butcher and the 

 baker and the groceryman for the necessities of life. He can produce 

 an abundance of vegetables and fruit, and he can have eggs and poultry 

 the year around without considering those things a luxury, A few 

 hogs keep him supplied with lard and pork. The orchards will supply 

 him with apples of many varieties, summer, fall and winter. Pumpkins, 

 squashes, piles of i)otatoes and turnips may be stored in the cellar for 

 winter use and buried out doors for spring use. Then the housewife has 

 her rows of jars of jellies and preserves, and no one needs to worry about 

 fruit the long winter days. Compare this country life with the city 

 man's side; I mean the laboring man, tlie man who works for wages. 

 We all know prosperous times make high prices. He pays enough for 

 all he receives. In times of strikes and business depression he has noth- 

 ing to fall back on. On the other hand, the man who has a farm, even 

 of small acres, has something back of him when all other support fails. 



Let me tell you what can be done on one acre of vegetables on 

 a small farm in Southeastern Nebraska. I want to say at the same time 

 no man can tell the limit of what one acre of land can do if it is handled 

 rightly and there is a market for it and transportation Is reasonable. 

 The garden and the poultry yard are the two places on the average farm 

 and even on many city lots where the table may be supplied without 

 going to the stores and hand out the hard cash for a second class article. 

 This year, owing to the dry spring, early garden stuff was a rare thing 

 on many family tables. 



My first planting of garden seeds began by the first week of IVIarch. 

 It Avas all fall plowed ground. In the past seven years manure was 

 hauled upon it and it was made as rich as possible. The weeds were kept 

 down every year. Before planting any seed this ground was disked and 

 harrowed with a brush harrow. With my drill I can plant any kind 

 of garden seed in a short time, having a wheel at the back of the drill 

 that presses the soil down on the seed. To grow more than one crop 

 on the same piece of ground in one season, I plant two or three different 

 kinds of seed in tlie same row on the same day. With lettuce I mix 

 parsley ; the next row lettuce with carrots ; next lettuce with rutabagas ; 

 next, lettuce with early turnips. Radishes and parsnips were put in 



