412 



1 HE IRR1 GA2ION AGE. 



sessions. The United States will become 

 a great consumer of rice. 



FRUITS ON THE FARM. 



Following is a paper by E. W. Kirk pat- 

 rick, of McKinney, read before the Cot- 

 ton Growers' Association at the Texas 

 Farmers' Congress: 



No farm is complete until it is well sup- 

 plied with all fruit growing trees and 

 plants that are adapted to its soil. 



The occupants of a farm cannot enjoy, 

 in all its completeness, the pleasures of 

 home life without fruits. Every soil 

 adapted to the growth of grain or grass will 

 produce fruit. No class of productions 

 require less care than fruits, and none give 

 better returns in wealth, happiness and 

 good cheer. 



The orchard and the vineyard are more 

 than the art and poetry of the farm; they 

 give rich returns in substantial wealth and 

 add attractions which lend additional mar- 

 ket value. 



The ease .with which rare seeds and 

 plants can be grown in waste places along 

 the fences, the roads, the streams, barns 

 and pastures and the immense beauty and 

 value they would add to every farm should 

 induce every farmer to plant most liberal 

 quantities. 



In addition to the material or money 

 values attaching to ''fruits of the farm," 

 many other charming qualities exist in the 

 aesthetic, moral and sentimental sides of 

 the orchard of home. When children 

 have opportunity to follow the growth of 

 trees and plants, and bee Dine familiar with 

 the development of bud, flower, and fruit, 

 and enjoy the sweet pleasures of nature's 

 rarest art galleries, music-halls and cafes, 

 they build recollections of their sacred 

 home which anchor them against the temp- 

 tations so ofttimes fatal to passionate 

 youth. 



Who can measure the wealth added to 

 home by a plentiful supply of fruits, flow- 

 ers and shade, the help and strength lent 



to a wearied wife and mother by these so- 

 journing angels. 



The trees lend their strength and grace 

 to the arms and hearts of boys and touch 

 our girls with dimpled roses. These con- 

 stant and permanent sentinels guard our 

 servant animals against both frigid blasts 

 of winter and burning heat of summer. 

 They invite the sweetest warblers to sing 

 the song of universal welcome. 



When a farmer feels the enchantment of 

 fruits on the farm it leads him on to 

 flowers on the farm and fowls on the farm, 

 and bees and fish and fountains, and walks 

 and lawns, and all these bring joy to the 

 household and honor and fame to the 

 farmer. 



Every farmer should plant a few trees 

 of best known varieties, and by having 

 bees to aid in cross-fertilizing the flowers, 

 the seeds will produce many new and val- 

 uable varieties for any person who will 

 plant and cultivate them. This is one of 

 the many charming reasons why we should 

 have fruit on the farm. 



There are more than ten million acres of 

 fruit lands in Texas which could give a 

 profit of $100 per acre per annum, thus 

 adding a billion dollars to current income 

 each year, and this is another reason why 

 we should have fruit on the farm. 



When a man asks one of God's angels to 

 be his wife and neglects to have fruit and 

 flowers at the home, it is cause for action 

 in divorce, and is a warning to those who 

 have no fruit on the farm. 



AGRICULTURAL INDEPENDENCE. 



Secretary Wilson said to the Washing- 

 ton correspondent of the New York &un a 

 few days ago: 



"There is no doubt that this country, 

 within a few months, will be in a position 

 to ignore every other nation on the globe 

 in the matter of food products. We will 

 produce within our own domain every- 

 thing that goes upon our table and upon- 

 our back*. We will then be, commercially 



