SEED-TsfWE AH© HARVEST. 2t 
•' ■ -- - 
position to think that the past would be 
utterly eclipsed. We should be slow in 
discarding old and well tested varieties. 
Their apparent deterioration usually re¬ 
sults from bad treatment and careless prop¬ 
agation. This tendency to part with the 
good qualities which once made a variety 
famous, should be checked, and a process 
of higher development entered upon. I 
think it can be done in this simple way. 
I am referring to old standard kinds. For 
instance, take a bed of ^Vilson’s seedling, 
select a plant that for some reason exhibits 
all the earliest and best Wilson character¬ 
istics. In every garden or field there are 
such plants that are head and shoulders 
above the others. Clear a space around 
such plants and propagate from them. Re¬ 
peat the process with the best children of 
these progenitors. We all know how well- 
known breeds in live stock, and old vari¬ 
eties of vegetables are developed and im¬ 
proved by a careful and continued selection 
and propagation from the best. Apply 
this principle to the standard strawberries, 
and a new competitor must be great indeed, 
to rival them. In the future as in the past, 
success in the development of the straw¬ 
berry will lie in the direction of our native 
species. We should employ the most vig¬ 
orous strains of our native stock in develop¬ 
ing new varieties, choosing hardy mothers, 
or pistillate varieties, like the old ‘•Cham¬ 
pion.” Instead of petting and stimulating 
new seedlings, I should put them in poor, 
thin soil, and then discard all except those 
which persist in thriving under unfavorable 
conditions. If on sandy or gravelly soil a 
new variety maintains vigor and produc¬ 
tiveness of large, fine-flavored fruit, we 
should have good reason to believe that it 
would succeed in varied soils and climates, 
when sent out into the rough-and-tumble 
of the world .—American Agriculturist. 
Small versus Large Farms. 
tills and manages, and devote his entire 
time and energies to the care and cultiva¬ 
tion of the remainder, he would derive far 
more profit fiom his labor and investment, 
with much less vexation of spirit. The 
fact is, as somebody truly asserts, we have 
too many farmers who are ‘-land poor”— 
who have so much land they cannot make 
a living. Paradoxical as this may appear,, 
it applies truthfully to many a naturally 
fertile and productive locality. When such 
farmeis have learned that it is not economy 
to own more land than they can till in the- 
most profitable manner, so that it will pay 
for the money expended in keeping it free 
from taxes, weeds, and other encumbrances, 
they will have solved the problem of ease 
in practical rural life, The happiest and 
thriftiest farmers we have ever known 
lived on farms of only ten to one hundred 
acres, every foot of which was made to 
count. On the other hand, the farmer who 
has so many broad acres that he cannot 
walk over them daily—where rods of fence 
corners are never cultivated or otherwise* 
utilized lives a life of anxiety and worry. 
Instead of working like slaves and living 
in a miserly manner, in order to “run a 
big farm,” or purchase “all the land that 
joins them,” it would be wise for hosts of 
farmers to sell some of their broad acres, 
concentrate their efforts upon limited acres, 
and look more to the comfort and hap¬ 
piness of their households, and the proper 
education of their children. Even if large 
farms were the most profitable—which we 
deny small ones are to be preferred for 
many and cogent reasons, not the least of 
which are the comfort, peace, and general 
welfare of the owners and their families.— 
American Agriculturist. 
Advertisements. 
In writing to any of our advertisers , please mm~ 
twnthat you saw their advertisement in SEED> 
TIME AND HARVEST. 
Our own notion is that small farms, well 
cultivated, are almost invariably the most 
profitable; and hence, we firmly believe 
(what has so often been asserted), that if 
many a farmer would sell half or two-thirds 
of the acres he now occupies, and poorly 
CHOICE SEED WHEAT! 
Tasmanian Red, Martin Amber, Niger Gold Dust and 
Long Berry. Samples of each 10 ct. Price $1.50 per 
Bushel; sacks. 25 cents. Some fine Plymouth. 
Rock: Cockerels and Pullets for $1.00 each. 
Seeds for the farm a specialty. R. G. CRIST, 
8 ' New Market, In’d. 
