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Yol. LVII. No. 2523. 
NEW YOKE, JUNE 4, 1898. 
$1 PER YEAR. 
A PARTNERSHIP WITH THE BOYS. 
WRITE “AND SON” AFTER YOUR NAME. 
A Pennsylvania Family Firm. 
We have printed pictures of a number of interesting 
families. Our readers will remember the picture of 
the Linder family of Ohio farmers, and the great 
family of Vermont girls printed on page 65. Now we 
are able to present another interesting- picture, which 
shows the well-named firm of “ W. B. Gibson & Sons ”. 
Washington County, Pa., is the home of this group, 
and we are glad to say that these sons are well on the 
way to an honorable and successful business career. 
The father is general overseer of the farm, and at¬ 
tends to the poultry entirely. Naturally he stands in 
the picture 
close to a few 
of his favorite 
P. Rocks. The 
oldest son, 
Fred. W., has 
entire charge of 
the bees, and 
also drives the 
retail wagon. 
The second boy, 
Bruce B., takes 
care of the Bel¬ 
gian hares, and 
also crates and 
inspects all the 
berries. Then 
comes Claire J., 
who looks after 
the Homing 
pigeons. The 
smaller boys. 
Lloyd C. and J. 
Blayney, arc 
not yet in 
charge of any 
particular de¬ 
partment, yet 
“they are the 
busiest mem¬ 
bers of the 
whole firm ”. 
There are a 
dozen sermons 
that might be 
preached from 
this picture. 
The reader will 
see that the 
products sent 
from this farm 
are varied. 
Poultry, Bel¬ 
gian hares, 
pigeons, honey 
and small fruit 
furnish a round of profitable employment all through 
the year. Much of this work can be done by light and 
active hands, as well as by full-grown men. Not only 
that, but it is attractive and interesting work, which 
holds a boy and gives him an incentive to think and 
study. It is, also, a sort of farming that does not ex¬ 
haust the soil and send the best part of the farm’s 
fertility away. This sort of farming is what one may 
call “ selling water ”. Honey, fruits and poultry pro¬ 
ducts are largely water, which is the cheapest thing 
one can buy, and the best thing one can sell. 
The Gibsons make quite a feature of strawberries. 
They have five acres, or 19,000 -Rants in hills, 22 inches 
apart each way. Their favorite varieties are Beder 
Wood for first early, Bubach and Barton, with Mar¬ 
shall on sandy ground for main crop, and Parker Earle 
and Brandywine on north-lying ground for late. They 
grow these berries in hills because they can obtain 
larger and richer-colored fruit in that way. The Gib¬ 
sons aim not only to sell water, but to sell water of 
high class. That is why their animals and fruits are 
all well bred and cared for. In 60 pounds of straw¬ 
berries, there are 54 pounds of water. It makes a dif¬ 
ference whether that water is sold for $3.50 or $2.50. 
The difference will depend upon the color, shape and 
size of the package—or strawberry. A Plymouth Rock 
weighing six pounds may contain four pounds of 
water. It may sell for 50 cents or for $5, depending 
upon the “ pedigree ” with which that water is tinc¬ 
tured. It is possible for a firm like “ W. B. Gibson & 
Sons ” to stamp their name as a guarantee on every 
package that leaves the farm, for every member of 
the firm is loyal, and all have the interests of the busi¬ 
ness at heart. 
This is a good way to start the boys. It would be 
hard to interest them in old-fashioned farming, for 
there would be room only for one or two of them. By 
taking up a few new and attractive departments that 
the boys enjoy, and teaching them to be patient and 
industrious, before the opposite habits are formed, it 
is likely that a lifelong attachment for farm life will 
be started. We wish that more farmers could and 
would write “and sons” after their names. There 
never was a better time in the history of the country 
for stopping the rush of our young farmers to town or 
city. There never will be a better way to stop it than 
by forming such partnerships. 
TWO ACRES FOR FOUR FOLKS. 
WILL TIIEY YIELD THEM A LIVING ? 
What Crops Should They Grow? 
A reader in Indiana sends us the following question : 
Can a family of four make a living on two acres just outside of 
a city of over 150,000, with plenty of water for irrigation, and a 
greenhouse 20 x 100 feet ? And what can be produced to best ad¬ 
vantage for family support? 
This query was submitted to a number of practical 
gardeners and florists in different States, and we give 
herewith a summary of their replies, including the 
principal points made. Several of them stated that 
the question is too indefinite, and that its correct 
solution will depend upon, first, what the family 
means by'“ living ”, as it is evident that the idea of the 
meaning of this 
word would 
vary consider¬ 
ably with dif¬ 
ferent individ¬ 
uals ; and sec¬ 
ond, the loca¬ 
tion and the 
market would 
have much to 
do with the 
problem. 
Henry Field, 
of Iowa, has 
had no experi- 
enee near a 
large city, but 
has near a town 
of 3,500 popula¬ 
tion, and says 
that a good liv- 
i ng can be made 
at his location. 
One greenhouse 
there has sold 
more than $500 
worth of prod¬ 
uce this year. 
He would set 
the two acres 
to cherries, 
peaches and 
plums, with 
some raspber- 
r i e s and cur¬ 
rants between 
the rows, and 
in the rest of 
the ground, 
would grow 
radishes, early 
tomatoes and 
strawberries, as 
these would 
make a larger 
return for the 
amount of ground occupied than anything else of 
which he knows. 
H. A. Siebrecht, whose location is in one of the 
nearby suburbs of New York City, says that the 
family in question can make a good living on such a 
place, especially if they are all workers, but every 
foot of ground must be used, and the soil must be fer¬ 
tile, in fact, a garden. This, with a good greenhouse 
properly managed^ should yield $1,600 to $1,800 per 
year. He would grow a crop of lettuce in one-half of 
the greenhouse, which should be partitioned in the 
middle so that the heat can be controlled in each sec¬ 
tion separately, and would devote the other half to 
tomatoes ; after the tomatoes, cucumbers, and under¬ 
neath the benches, mushrooms and asparagus by forc¬ 
ing, using old clumps of the latter, also forcing some 
W. B. GIBSON & SONS,” A PENNSYLVANIA FARM FIRM AND ITS SPECIALTIES. Fig. 174 . 
