1885 



GJ.i:ANL\r;s \y uee culture. 



141 



There is a peculiar thrill that comes into 

 almost every heart when one lirst sets foot | 

 on a piece of ground he can call his own. 

 When I get tired of writing, or dictating, as 

 I am doing now, I put on my fur cap. and j 

 overcoat, and go and look over my 18 acres, i 

 A creek runs through the middle of it. I 

 love this creek, even if it does get rampant 

 sometimes, and ilood the low ground. ' 

 There is an excitement in watching it, 

 and preparing for it, and planning carp- 

 ponds that will not be injured much by an 

 overflow. And, bv the way, when we have 

 a dull time in the 'fall I set the boys and the 

 horses at work straightening and deepening 

 tlie cliannel. and I am in hopes that, after 

 a while, we shall get it so it won't go over 

 the banks at all. Along this little stream 

 we liave a side-hill, and some rather steep 

 banks. In one of these banks, protected 

 from the winds, I mean to have a poultry- : 

 house, and we are going to push it back into 

 the bosom of old mother Earth, where the 

 "biddies'' won't know it is zero outside. I 

 suppose it would be better to liave the front 

 of glass, but I think we can make a very cozy 

 place for them without going to the expense 

 of glass, at least yet awhile. 



For late strawi)erries, we want a northern 

 slope. Well, we liavi^ got that on the south . 

 side of the stream. Alongside of the stream 

 we have rich black Uuun.just right for celery 

 and other water-loving plants. In another 

 place there is a spring that comes out of the 

 gravelly bed. The water from this spring is 

 going to keep the canj-pond going wlien we 

 have a drouglit. Why. almost every day I 

 discover something on' these is acres tlrat I 

 did not know I had before— sometliing to 

 feel liappy about. And tlien. you know, 

 whatever discoveries I make here are all i 

 mine— mine and God's. I know he likes to 

 see me happy with them, for I can feel the 

 sunshine of his love while J am engaged in 

 this work. A great many farmers are de- 

 terred from making improvements, and de- 

 veloping the resources of their own posses- 

 sions, by thinking tliat it iron't pat/. My 

 friends, does it pay to sit still, and let your 

 horses stand idle iii the stable? I would not 

 advise hiring help for work that is uncertain 

 in its results; but I would advise empl(\ving 

 your time, and the time of your t(>am. in 

 place of letting them stand idle. You can 

 do this, and not be out of iwcket. and a pen- 

 ny saved is a penny earned. 



Now. what is tliere almost every one who 

 reads (iLKAxrxos can do, with a reasonable 

 chance of havino- it pay. and that he can do 

 without exi>ending money':' What business 

 can evrnibdih/ go into witliout capitalV You 

 see. I begin to talk s(Mnething like thes? ad- 

 vertisements in the papers that promise ever 

 so much for nothing. Why. my friends, it 

 seems to me the answer to tliis great prob- 

 lem is that, instead of going around to fac- 

 tories and shops for a job. we just go straight 

 to God and take up the s:ime kind of work 

 that he first gave Adam and Eve. when he 

 told them to earn their bread by the sweat 

 of their face, (to to old motlier Earth, and 

 get a job of her. If you like keeping stock. 

 go and take better care of the stock you 

 have already got. instead of sitting idle. If 



you are not the possessor of even a chicken, 

 may be it will take some money to get a 

 start ; but God will give you the opportuni- 

 ty of earning money for tliis start, if you are 

 in earnest. You can do almost all the work 

 needed in raising poultry during these spare 

 evenings, when you would be otherwise loaf- 

 ing or doing worse. You can get some dirt, 

 aTid start some plants right olf now. when 

 this numlier reaches you; and you can buy 

 seeds at five cents a' paper, or even three 

 cents, of some of the seedsmen. Y^ou can 

 find l)oards around home to make boxes of, 

 to hold the dirt: and the boxes can be in the 

 window, if you have not any better place. 



Xeiglibor 11. once raised a wonderful crop 

 of melons by sowing the seeds in boxes 

 made of newspapers, and setting them in 

 the window. When the weather permitted 

 him to work in the ground outside, he set 

 the paper box between two bricks, laid a 

 pane of glass across them, then banked the 

 dirt around them. The pane of glass was 

 very easilv slipped off or on. as the weather 

 permitted', and he had melons about the 

 time we get them from the South. Enor- 

 mous prices are paid for extra-early fruits 

 and vegetables, and you can make prepara- 

 tions for tiiese in the way above indicated, 

 and the work may emi^loy all your evenings 

 from now till time to work outdoors. I 

 know some have complained that the mar- 

 kets are overstocked— their stulf won't sell. 

 Well, if it does not sell, use it yourself. 

 There are methods now of preserving and 

 kee]ting almost every thing heretofore con- 

 sidered iierishalile. We have celery now on 

 our table as nice as when lirst taken from 

 the ground in the fall. All you have to do 

 is to plant it in the ground in your cellar. 



A great manv people sav they have not 

 the facultv of making things grow— every 

 thing dies "they undertake to fuss with. My 

 friends, von can learn to become an expert 

 in making things grow, and the catalogues 

 that are' given away freely to everybody 

 nowadavs will give yon all the instruction 

 von need. .V few months ago I hired an ex- 

 pert market gardener— at least, he was rec- 

 ommended as sueli. He killed my choicest 

 strawberries bv the lavish way in which he 

 used guano, an'd killed mv potatoes (as well 

 asthebuirsi bv the lavish way in w'hich he 

 used Paris green. In fact, he used almost 

 everv thing much as the '• hired help " uses 

 butter and sugar when she goes into the 

 kitchen. Then one of our own bovs took a 

 fancv to the greenhouse, and he has com- 

 menced cantiouslv, feeling his Avay with 

 plants, seeds, fertilizers, and different kinds 

 of soil; and now he is gettiftg a good many 

 things so much at his lingers' ends that he 

 begins to succeed with every thing he under- 

 takes, and he has had only a few months" 

 practice. One who loves (xod. and loves 

 these tinv seeds as thev bnr.st forth from 

 their earthv covering, will be almost sure to 

 succeed. Even if you fail, if yon work as I 

 have advised, you are out of pocket so little 

 that vou may j"»lmost say nothing. If what 

 vou "raise won't sell, use it yourself; and 

 though everv thing is low, if we stop out- 

 goes we shall be far better employed than in 

 doing nothing. 



