OLD AND NEW HOMES. 



CHAPTER V. 



Succession of Crops. — Blackberries. — The Agency-system. — Advantages of Posi- 

 tion. — Peaches. — Melons. — Tomatoes and Pickles. — Canning Fruit. — Farms in tht 

 South. — Settling Accounts. — Home Improvement. — Our Neighbors' Policy. — Com- 

 parisons. 



By the 20th of July, our pease had been gathered, and our early potatoes 

 dug ; and their places were at once filled by cucumbers for pickles : for the 

 season here enables us to grow two and three crops the same year. At 

 this time, also, we were gathering daily from our tomatoes, sweet-corn, 

 squashes, and cucumbers, with now and then an early egg-plant. Our 

 melons looked well, and the watermelons were already as large as a child's 

 head. The squash-bugs had made their appearance, as usual : but a prompt 

 dressing of plaster of Paris had put an end to their depredations ; and the 

 drought, which had somewhat shortened our raspberry-crop, had been just 

 the thing for them. Our acre of Lawton blackberries was ripening nicely ; 

 and again the pickers found employment day by day, while we were busy 



