THE STRAWBERRY DECEMBER 1906 



the five acres long and thoughtfully and 

 then returned to the house with a deter- 

 mined look upon her face. 



"Well, it is all settled," said Mr. Ellis 

 that evening. "Brown will take the farm 

 on shares, and I am to go to work for the 

 nursery company next week. I've sold 

 off everything but two cows, the work 

 team and Bess. I will need the team for 

 my work and you can have Bess for a 

 driving horse. You can have a part of 

 the money for your own use and I shall 

 need some to start me on the road," and 

 easy-going Mr. Ellis was as happy as 

 though he was sure of a roof over his 

 head and a home in his old age. 



Well, you can let Mr. Brown have 

 all but the five acres beyond the barn. I 

 want that reserved for my own use," said 

 Mrs. Ellis quietly. 



'All right. I suppose you will want to 

 make a garden. But you will hardly want 

 to use five acres for that, will you.''" 



"No, but I think it best to reserve that 

 much. I think I shall set out a little 

 strawberry bed this spring," answered 

 Mrs. Ellis. 



Good idea; it will give you something 

 to putter around w th, and you won't have 

 much to do, with no farm work and me 

 out of the way," said her husband, cheer- 

 fully. 



Mrs. Ellis was a quiet, self-contained 

 woman and she did not discuss her plans 

 with anyone, not even her children. But 

 all that winter she read everything she 

 could get hold of on the culture of straw- 

 berries. She subscribed for a strawberry 

 journal aud took note of what was said 

 of the different varieties, their culture and 

 the marketing of the fruit, and she also 

 acquainted herself with the doings of a 

 fruit-grower's association in a neighboring 

 city. 



Early in the spring she hired one and 

 one-half acres of the little pasture plowed. 

 Every particle of the fertilizer that had 

 accumulated around the barn was worked 

 into this and it was put into the very best 

 condition for plants. The half-acre was 

 to be reserved for corn, potatoes and a 

 garden, and the acre was to be set with 

 thoroughbred strawberries. 



She decided on "the Big Red Eel 

 lows" as Harry designated the pictures of 

 certain varieties in the strawberry jour- 

 nal, and sent away for about se\en thous- 

 and plants, paying for them with the 

 money she had saved from the household 

 expenses. She hired a man to help her 

 set out the bed and then for the remainder 

 of the summer she fairly lived in the 

 strawberry' patch. 



She bought a small, light cultivator and 

 Harry soon learned to drive Bess between 

 the rows,' and thus she was saved the ex- 

 pense of hiring the cultivation done, while 

 Harry was very proud to be allowed to 

 help Mamma in the garden. 



And how Mrs. Ellis did work that 

 summer! Early and late she was out 

 armed with a hoe. She never had been 



very strong, but this summer the work in 

 the fresh air and sunshine seemed to fairly 

 renew her youth. At night she would go 

 to bed weary with her unusual labor, but 

 in the morning she was out with the lark, 

 fresh and buoyant from her night of sound, 

 refreshing sleep. 



Mr. Ellis came home several times 

 during the summer, but beyond laughing 

 a little at the size of her strawberry patch 

 and praising her thrifty garden he paid 

 little attention to what she was doing. 

 Certainly it never entered his head that 

 his wife expected to realize any profit on 

 her strawberries, but all he seemed to 

 to plan to do was to furnish something 

 for the support of his family and s^ve up 

 money enough to pay the interest on the 

 mortgage. 



Mrs. Ellis was a womanly woman and 

 she had a feeling that every self-respect- 

 ing man should support his family. She 

 did not intend to take any useless burdens 

 upon her own shoulders and she let it be 

 understood that she expected a certain 

 share of her husband's wages to keep up 

 the home, and this he very willingly 

 supplied. 



1 he nearest market was a thriving vil- 

 lage six miles from Spring Brook Farm, 

 and there Mrs. Ellis sold some $25 worth 

 of vegetables from her garden, and this 

 money she carefully hoarded to purchase 

 more plants the coming spring. 



The neighbors were too busy with their 

 own work to pay much attention to Mrs. 

 Ellis' strawberry bed. It was rather out 



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Page 238 



