could be built to receive them. Cabbage and cauliflower were set at once in the field, being covered 

 with paper pots for a few days to prevent wilting, and sometimes at night to guard against cold. 



Lettuce, beets, onions, spinach, parsnips, endive, scorzonera, celery (in the seed-bed), and com 

 were drilled in by the little Planet Jr., hand drills, those exquisite little time-savers. 



As an illustration of the work they will do in this new ground it required 25 minutes to plant 8 

 rows of parsnips, each row 100 feet long. 



To plant 3 rows each of 4 different varieties of lettuce consumed 45 minutes, and this of course 

 meant empty and fill the drill for each new variety. 



Lettuce plants and cabbage plants from a Huntington grower were set out (we wished to test trans- 

 planted lettuce with that grown in drills and only thinned). Chives, shallots, Pe-tsai, carrots, and 

 radishes from North China were all sowed. Udo, the Japanese celery, was planted to the east of the 

 raspberries. 



On the 21st all trees and shrubs were sprayed with "Scalecide," as a preventive against the San 

 Jose scale. To do the orchard and berries required 1 hour and 15 minutes, and 8 gallons of the mixture 

 (1-3 gal. Scalecide at 60c. per gallon) ; not a very costly ounce of prevention. 



A portion of the lawn was sprinkled as a first test of irrigation. On the 26th of April the grass 

 seed had germinated on this portion only. 



Potatoes were planted this month — nine varieties as a test of their earliness, productiveness and 

 qualities. 



On the night of the 22d the "hustler" came home and exclaimed: "A plum is in bloom." 



"Where? In our garden?" 



"Our garden nothing. No. 1 of course." 



"Why it can't be," I exclaimed, "you know they really ought not to be alive and they can't bloom 

 the first year." 



"I don't care, it's in bloom and a lot of the others show fruit buds." 



"Whose trees? New York or Pennsy?" 



"Pennsy, all their trees are way ahead, they're ahve to the tips and some of them are in leaf, while 

 New York's are only in budwith no fruit buds, and many of the branches have died back three or four 

 inches," he replied. 



"Score 1 for No. 1," I said. Everyone said you should move stock south to have it produce earlier, 

 but we know that Pennsy's stock stood the better chance, for they showed more careful packing and 

 the trees looked sturdier and had great numbers of fibrous roots. Anyhow, no one can say they did 

 not have a fair show, for they were warned of the contest and came prepared to meet victory, defeat or 

 a tie. 



Chill drizzly weatherjnow^prevented further planting afield. A cold frame was erected in the lee 

 of the barn and tomato plants transferred there. They were showing the need of overhead light, al- 

 though still stocky and strong. Rain, however, rushed vegetation along and rhubarb and Udo jumped 

 out of the ground like a "Jack in the Box." 



The painters were busy on all buildings, while the homestead was being completed and furnished 

 for our occupancy, for the farm needed us every hour, day and night, this its first tender year. The 

 call of its tender youth was strong upon me, for I adore babies of every description, but the dear old 

 home must first be placed in good keeping before I could fly. 



The office completed and desk in place, the stenographer took up her abode at the farm with our 

 EngUsh family, helping until I came, with the daily records of the multitude of things accomplished 

 each day. 



To quote from the'diary, April 30th: 



"More lettuce, spinach, and salsify up and apparently glad it came. Brought further live stock 

 to the farm in the shape of 2 setting hens. (This was my scheme, I wanted young chicks, could not 

 set the hens at home and being afraid the trip would 'break them up,' I put each hen in a box with hay 

 and 3 china eggs under her. They traveled the 33 miles setting all the way. I doubt if anything could 

 have disturbed them with the eggs under their breasts. Wonderful nature of motherhood!) 



"Set out 880 cauliflower from the hotbed. 



"Being unable to secure plumbing experts, made a practical demonstration that an English soldier 

 and an American cowboy could cut pipe and affix fittings without stupendous diSiculty, and further 

 make absolutely tight joints." 



This same "skilled labor" (non-union men, however) made for us the "dandiest" little bathroom 

 ever a farm beheld. Beside the pump head in the lean-to was a space about six feet long and three feet 

 wide. This was boarded in, a cement floor laid slanting to one corner; pipe run through and tap at- 

 tached. A tiny bathtub was placed across the end of the room, a 2-hole oil stove back of it and raised 

 on boxes to the level of the tub. A wash boiler with brass spigot in its side near the bottom crowned 

 the stove and here was the hot water supply. No one could ask for a better bath, and the cowboy- 

 soldier combination made it all after the strenuous outdoor day work was done. 



Lima beans were planted on the last day of April, although I believe the proper old-fashioned 

 time is the afternoon of the 29th of May, or some such jargon. 



We were also _^utterly disrespectful of the light and dark of the moon. All root crops being in 

 our forefathers' day planted in the "dark" and all upper crops in the "light." To us, nature's signs 

 are the best; when the maple is in bud, in leaf and in bloom are sure signs, for she never makes a mistake. 

 Her chats with "Old Prob." are in a better and surer language than ours. 



April gone! with its sweet odors nowhere so sweet as on new land surrounded by woods, rapid 

 growth; continuous surprises. The month of tears and sunshine — and strenuous work. 



May day started with the planting of corn and beans, finishing the last cleared acre of the dairy 

 and resowing celery in the seed-bed. This seed-bed was one of the Farm's semi-failures; we selected 

 a plot to the south and east of the chicken yard, warm and protected. It was forked over with a goodly 

 quantity of manure and raked as fine as possible. Somehow it baked and celery being so slow to germ- 



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