4 
9 
You will find they will interest themselves 
in the growing of such, and will soon more 
than supply the table. Tell the boys they 
can take the balance to market or sell to 
the neighbors and have what they get for 
them. They will soon, with this privilege, 
increase the plants and increase their reve¬ 
nue, and thus save you very much that you 
would have to hand out to them, mother 
and the girls. One acre of strawberries, 
raspberries and blackberries, properly 
grown, will give the family all they can use 
and bring in a revenue to the boys of two 
hundred to three hundred dollars per year. 
As they begin on a small scale, they will go 
interesting themselves more and more in 
the business; and as new chanels are open¬ 
ing every day for the use of fruits, they 
will soon make that their specialty. 
Thousands of bushels of fruit that go to 
waste now, the wife, sons and daughteis 
can run through the evaporator, or can, 
and thus put them in a condition for dis¬ 
posal at good, paying prices. 
Eastern farmers, with their small farms, 
must soon turn their attention to some¬ 
thing besides grain producing, as they can¬ 
not compete with the great west and south¬ 
west, and therefore we advise encouraging 
the boys to grow fruit to supply this great 
prairie community as well as supplying 
their own markets. Try it boys. Set out 
a small bed the coming spring, and get 
your hand in, and you will find the more 
you work at it the better you will like it. 
Mothers, encourage your sons. Fathers, 
don't say no, if you wish to hold your sons 
on the farm.” 
Hash on a Tangent. 
Twenty men, mostly commercial travel¬ 
ers, met recently at the breakfast table of 
one of the hotels in Burlington, Iowa. A 
rather pompous looking drummer sat at 
the head of the table. As the meal pro¬ 
gressed a gentleman farther down the 
board, politely asked the gentleman at the 
other end to be kind enough to pass the 
bread. The person addressed very coolly took 
a slice between his thumb and finger and 
o-ave it a toss in the direction of the gentle¬ 
man who had asked for it. Such a breach 
of etiquette did not escape the notice of 
those present; but the bread was taken 
and nothing said. Soon the pompous man 
asked for the hash. ‘‘‘Will you pass that 
hash this way f ’ said he. A dish contain¬ 
ing some hot hash stood within easy reach 
of the man who had just caught his bread 
on the fly. Seeing his opportunity and at 
the risk‘of burning bis palm, he reached 
over, seized a handful of the savory hash, 
and by a well directed throw, with all his 
force, landed the hash on liis. opponent's 
plate, from which it glanced in all direc¬ 
tions, chiefly upon his broadcloth suit and 
white shirt front. The roar that went 
around the table was immense. After re¬ 
ceiving the hash broadcast, Mr. Pomposo 
jumped up from the table, called to the 
proprietor and said in indignant tones ‘ t Sir > 
I have been insulted at your table and I 
want to pay my bill !” The proprietor, on 
finding out the true state of the case, told 
him at once he had better pay, and get out 
of the house as soon as he could,—which he 
did.—W. H. B., West Springfield. 
Give the Boys a Chance. 
Martin Parvin writes to the Ohio Farmer 
of a farmer who gave his boy the use of a 
quarter of an acre. The boy was wide 
awake and set it to strawberries: in two 
years he owned two acres, and now, three 
years from the beginning, he owns five 
acres of land, and last season he cleared 
$500 above all expenses on strawberries 
alone. It is a pity that more farmers do not 
give their boys a chance to follow their 
bent in • farm management. If he likes 
stock raising give him a few sheep or cat¬ 
tle; if gardening or grain suits him, let him 
have a piece of land for his own use, and 
don’t for pity’s sake, after he has his pro¬ 
duce ready for market, sell it for him and 
pocket the money, for if you do, ten to one, 
your boy will be filled with an ambition to 
figure behind a counter or study law or 
medicine, or go into some other business 
where a dozen are waiting for an opening, 
while millions of acres are being slowly but 
surely robbed of their fertility for want of 
