CHAPTER XII 

 THE YOUNG FARMER'S ALMANAC 



" Tell you a story," my beautiful dear, 



" Of nixies and pixies and fairies with wings ! " 



Well, curl up close in the corner here. 



And I '11 show you more astonishing things. 



Celia Thaxter 



Gardening is an all-the-year-round occupation, yet some 

 of us, who see how rushed a farmer is when spring comes on, 

 might well think of it as his busy season and ask what a 

 farmer does the rest of the year to kill time. The joyous 

 call of all growing things in the springtime is really only a 

 part of the story ; spring happens to be the climax of a 

 year of strenuous preparation, and during those months his 

 industry is just as real, though not so striking. The spring 

 planting, upon which so many hopes hang, is actually antici- 

 pated weeks — yes, months — before a single seed goes into 

 the ground. Several important pieces of work must have 

 been satisfactorily done ; any one of these by itself would 

 keep mind and muscle steadily employed. Take merely the 

 preparation of the farm land, and consider what skill and en- 

 durance is neces.sary to get it into shapie. Consider also the 

 planning neces.sary in growing plants under glass. Prepara- 

 tion cannot be made a week too early nor a day too late ; the 

 right moment waits upon the weather. To tell "when" takes 

 a good guesser. Looking ever forward, mapping out work, 

 readjusting his plans to events as they come along, becomes 

 second nature to the expert. There is no month in the cal- 

 endar when he can afford n<jt to " watch out." One market 



179 



