380 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



ing, you must begin your garden the fall before, but any boy 

 fifteen years old can do it anywhere in the State, and if he 

 wishes I will tell him how. 



We all have more or less desire to beat our neighbors. 

 It is not a very bad ambition in the line on which I am speak- 

 ing. Peas can be had about June 20 as well as a month 

 or two later, and I always plant the latest kinds as early as 

 the earliest, l)ecause they are the best and will not under any 

 circumstances be ready for the table until the early ones 

 are gone. 



In field crops, when I can take the first premium on corn, 

 which I have many times done, against many worthy com- 

 petitors who farm under more favorable auspices, I don't go 

 home feeling very unhappy. It is a distinction that I am 

 proud of. But, after all, I get the most of my pleasure 

 from the fact that the best corn at our fair has been raised 

 on my dearly loved hilltop, rather than in the warm valleys 

 that are more favored in natural fertility and climate. 



I pity the boy who has to do barn chores and does not 

 like to. He may not know it, but it is a very important 

 part of his education if he expects to be a successful farmer. 

 Chores can be made pleasant work by the owner of the farm, 

 if he makes pleasant work of it himself. To have a barn 

 full of stock that is dependent upon you for its care and 

 keeping is as humanizing as is the care of the family, and 

 the c'reat law of kindness can be as well tau2:ht and learned 

 in the barn as in the house. The farm boy soon comes to 

 know that all of the stock must be fed, watered and taken 

 care of as certainly as himself, and when this depends on 

 him, there is a responsil)ility comes with it that should be 

 made pleasant to him. At the present day no good farmer has 

 a cold barn or stable, and when a boy works there he should do 

 so comfortal)ly and pleasantly. To do this he should be taught 

 to keep the barn clean and wholesome, and his good taste and 

 pride should be encouraged in that direction. A clean barn 

 indicates a clean character. Before new hay is put in the 

 barn, the cobwebs from overhead and all floors of vacant bays 

 and scaffolds should be swept clean. The new hay should be 

 mowed just in line with the barn floor, not projecting over 

 it, nor shrinking from it. When it is all in, the mows should 

 be carefully raked down till they are straight and even, and 



