136 WE FARM FOR A HOBBY 



foodstuffs we have not yet given our attention. 

 During Prohibition we made sporadic attempts at 

 wine, never with any real success. Wine making 

 is not easy. It evidently requires a combination 

 of good direction and a flair. Of late years the Jap- 

 anese beetles have so depleted the grape vines that 

 what little crop we get is dedicated to unfermented 

 grapejuice, and jam. Cider, perry, and vinegar are 

 all usable by-products. However, we have seldom 

 as yet enough apples or pears to spare from can- 

 ning, jelly, or apple butter. 



Save for corn, we do not yet grow our own 

 cereals. In view of our wide and varied diet very 

 little wheat flour would be needed to supply our 

 household: according to the findings of the Bureau 

 of Home Economics about one hundred and fifty 

 to seventy-five pounds a year. Therein probably 

 lies the main reason why we have not grown our 

 own. Since it is not a big factor in the diet, it 

 would hardly pay to hire a reaper-and-binder and 

 a threshing machine for our small needs. Of course 

 it could be done with a cradle and hand-flail, but 

 that looks like a lot of hard work for flour at five 

 or six cents a pound. The sensible solution would 

 be a planting big enough to justify the contract 

 labor, with part of the grain crop, and the straw, 

 used on the livestock. But that will have to wait 

 upon adequate rat-proof storage for the grain. 



Bees, and honey, are another incidental I look 



