90 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



est of everything. We weren't trying to do 

 market gardening; we were aiming only at 

 supplying our own needs. We've stuck to 

 that, and we shall keep it up. It pays. No 

 equal acreage on the farm pays nearly so well, 

 judged by its effect upon our household econ- 

 omy. 



We set out asparagus beds that spring. We 

 planted a vineyard of six dozen vines and a 

 dozen varieties that were selected to give us 

 choice grapes fresh for our table over the long- 

 est possible season, from early summer to late 

 fall. We planted an orchard on the same plan 

 a hundred and fifty trees of plum, peach, 

 apple, apricot, cherry and pear thirty or 

 forty varieties. None of that was done for 

 commercial purposes, it was all planned for 

 the home. In time, of course, we would have 

 a surplus to be sold; but that would be inci- 

 dental. Our own dining-room and pantry and 

 storeroom made the center of this scheme. 



The townsman's habit of taking care of his 

 trees and his garden patch clung to us. On our 

 acre of orchard at Omaha I had nursed my 

 trees like so many babies, feeding, trimming, 

 cultivating, keeping every one like a show- 

 piece. The trees on the farm were handled in 



