II 



GAKDENING AGAINST ODDS 



IT was certainly gardening against odds in 19 . 

 It was the testing of a summer of drought. No 

 country woman in New York state needs to be 

 reminded of the late spring frosts of that year; 

 of the long drought that followed; of the hard 

 killing frosts in the early fall. As country gar- 

 deners, we have not forgotten the disappointment 

 on finding our carefully tended early plants 

 burned by the frost, in spite of the care we had 

 taken. We remember how we fought the drought, 

 and the bugs and the lice as well. We do not 

 easily forget the day before and the day after the 

 big fall frost. The day before, we were feeling 

 proud of what in very spite of Nature's biggest 

 obstacles had finally been accomplished. Lima 

 bean poles were loaded to the top; the tomato 

 plants were rich in their burden of big red fruit; 

 the tiny bush melons even were ripening; the 

 corn that with regular corn persistence had come 

 on in spite of frost and drought, was bending 

 with its load of ears. The day after the frost? 

 Well, the vision still held. The testing, we had 

 faced with joy. You see, we real gardeners had 



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