March 4, 1922 
him as a farmer. Last week the daily 
? apers contained a brief item about an 
talian woman who entered this country 
as au immigrant. She expected to locate 
on. a Long Island farm, anti she brought 
a good-sized flower pot tilled with soil 
from her old Italian home. There was a 
small lemon tree growing in that soil. Her 
idea was to plant that little tree, with the 
Italian soil about it, on Long Island, 
where it would constantly remind her of 
her old home. The woman did not under¬ 
stand about our American climate. A 
lemon tree planted outdoors on Long 
Island' would soon produce “lemons” of 
the American slang variety. It is against 
our laws to import foreign soil or plants 
without a special Government permit, and 
the inspectors quickly dumped this flower 
pot and its contents. And it nearly broke 
this woman’s heart to see this handful of 
soil from her old home flung into the 
oeean. It meant so much to her—this 
plain, common dirt from her native land. 
She was to become an American, but here 
was part of the soil from which she had 
grown—here was part of her old home. 
She was what you may call a true farmer. 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
“If Winter comes cati Spritig be far 
behind ?” 
Our folks have been reading the book 
which takes this quotation for its title 
and theme. We regard it as one of the 
finest of recent stories, and wc think of 
the life of Mark Sabre as we look out of 
our windows today. Winter seems to 
have come to stay with us. Spring may 
"not be far behind,” but she has con¬ 
cealed herself with great skill. I can 
hardly recall a more disagreeable Win¬ 
ter. There has been one long succession 
of storms, and here, at at the opening of 
March, the frozen snow lies deep all over 
our hills. There has been much sickness 
all about us. and we never were so weary 
of Winter and so anxious to see the bare 
land and the first faint shimmer of green 
on the wet spots. Surely when Spring 
comes she will be as welcome to us as 
the belated Spring of life was to Mark 
Sabre in the story. This has been a hard 
season for "baek-to-the-landers” spending 
their first Winter in the country. I hear 
of many who have given up in despair 
and started back to the city after spend¬ 
ing about all their surplus in an effort to 
make their transplanted tree of life grow 
in a new place. It is always hard to 
transplant a good-sized tree. Most peo¬ 
ple fail because they will not cut the top 
back to correspond with the pruning 
which they must give the roots. Thus the 
big top demands more than the short 
roots can provide, and the tree dies. 
Many of these baek-to-the-landers cannot 
or will not prune their habits and views 
of life to correspond with the cutting 
they must give their roots when they 
leavp the city for the farm. Take a 
family out of a convenient city flat where 
hot and cold water run through the house 
as freely as blood circulating through the 
human body. Put them down on a farm 
where every drop of wafer must be 
pumped from an outside well and heated 
over a stove. On a M inter_ like this it 
would mean great misery until the family 
can acquire the habits of farm life. Or 
Potato "vim 
makes the last 
5 weeks count 
Pyrox invigorates tlie vines so the tubers have 
longer period in which to grow big, fat and fine 
in quality, 
Pyrox kills the hugs, prevents blight and many 
rots. Positively stops the cause of dry rot. 
Pyrox is distinctly different! In it is a power¬ 
ful fungicide and a deadly poison, combined 
chemically for greater potency. You buy it as a 
creamy paste. It mixes easily; stays long in sus¬ 
pension; goes through finest nozzles without 
clogging. Sticks like paint on the foliage. 
Users enthuse over Pyrox 
Read the Pyrox Book 
No Wolider thousands use Pyrox! For one price 
they get three sprays, triple benefit—all at only 
one time-and-labor cost. It’s a money-saver and a 
re but One of the first principles of successful 
•V'will farming is for a man to know his farm 
Ip and somehow feel about it much as these 
1 ready women I have told about do. I am sure 
town that all our folks feel that way about this 
so city farm. It would he a fine thing if the 
f them boys and girls who leave home to find 
henofit places of their own could carry a peck or 
, so of the old soil with them, and grow a 
exnpct rose bush or a clump of lilies in it. I once 
• • vo saw a woman far out on the dry plains 
ide-U” who 1)11(1 brought from faraway New 
do not England a package of soil. About all she 
r more could grow in it on that desert was a big 
„ prer rhubarb root—but. what sauce she did 
•irious make out of its stalks 1 I do not know 
ranked what we shal! find when this snow finally 
one of melts. I do not see how the kudzu roots 
v w v.,, can live through such a W iutcr. I im¬ 
agine the mice have done great damage 
in those back orchards, and if Spring 
suddenly slips upon us. the melting snow 
will cut great gullies on our hillside. 
Well, we are ready for it all. Last year 
at this time our buds were starting to 
swell, and, as we all know, the late frost 
came and nipped them. This year every 
bud is still asleep, and we expect to put 
the full crop over. We are ready for 
Spring whenever it gets ready to start. 
We expect, to plant peach and apple trees 
moderately this year, and to put out about 
an acre more of strawberries. But little 
sweet corn this season. It lias not paid 
\s I look upon the snowy waste which so welt in late years, on account of the 
covers our farm it comes to me that the worms and the increase in competition, 
real farmer is a man of vision and poetry Sweet corn now reaches our markets from 
md strong imagination — often without points hundreds of miles away, ioma- 
thc slightest thought of being so. Some toes still pay well, if you can get them 
mav’ call it habit alone which gives a early, hut as things look now. our apples 
farmer faith to work on through the cold and peaches will keep us more than busy. 
confident that Spring will come I expect a reasonably good year. It is 
jrass and apple no time to plunge or blow mODOy^away 
e it seems some- on experiments. A "bumper crop ’ this 
■something more Tear would be about the worst thing that 
■ , could happen <to farmers. With a con¬ 
servative expense and good judgment, I 
think we can have a good year. Our Illack 
are in 
M«.ua eAf. atr. 
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thev fail. Then they go hack and curse 
farmers and country living—for . their 
own follv. On the other hand, the back- 
to-the-lander whe works humbly and rea¬ 
sonably. and no matter how hard the 
Winter, knows that Spring will come, 
makes one of the finest rural citizens t\c 
can possibly have. 
for dusting purposes 
may 
and snow. < 
once more, 
bloom and flowers 
thing more than ... 
like a cort of divine hope and inspiration 
a form of poetry which the back-to-the 
lander must grow into. It is the way a - 
man feels toward his farm which grades Jersey Giants and Toulouse geese 
oUend urifl Holts ami make the Drug yourse! 
for full information. Wo deliver jin 
HUSSEY PLOW CO 
North Berwick. Maine 
Oita 4 KonMdon .* 
