The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
1379 
and I wanted to wait until they were all 
sold, so that I might tell you about them. 
We dug up the ground for the cold 
frame about a foot and a half deep. We 
threw all the dirt out and put in a layer 
about six inches deep of manure, and filled 
it up with the dirt. Then we put the 
sash on and warmed up the dirt and 
planted the tomato seed. We sowed the 
peppers in the house, and cabbage in 
some boxes of dirt outdoors. Later we 
sowed some late cabbbage. We sold the 
plants at 10 cents a dozen. People from 
all around saw the sign, which we put up 
in front of the house. When all ex¬ 
penses were paid we had $10.00. The 
expenses were 50 cents. 
I don’t want to get this letter too long, 
go goodbye. Laurence g. 
Ohio. 
Some of you will want to keep this plan 
in mind for another year. No doubt quite 
a plant business could be done in almost 
any neighborhood. Especially if they 
knew that you could be depended upon 
for plants, many people would rather not 
bother growing just a few. If you start 
such a piece of work you must be sure 
to make good. Every business boy and 
girl wants to build up a good reputation 
and keep it. The things to stand for are 
honesty, square dealing and keeping prom¬ 
ises. so far as it is in your power to 
produce the goods. 
Sometimes you will have to tight for 
your plants. I mean fight insects and 
diseases and weeds and animals. You 
will need to study up on this, and to be 
on the watch all the time your plants are 
growing.. I had a big seed bed of red 
cabbage plants this year. Before I knew 
what was happening they were covered 
with plant lice, or aphids. I had to get 
busy or lose my plants. Black Leaf 40, 
a tobacco extract, did the work. The 
aphids died, the plants recovered and to¬ 
day are growing in the. field. 
Would you say that the place in which 
Laurence raised the tomato plants was 
a cold frame or a hotbed? Who will 
write and tell us clearly what is the dif¬ 
ference between the two, and what each 
is used for? 
I will try to remember to mention this 
plant-raising plan again early next 
Spring. If any more of you have had 
experience along this line, send it in. 
In the meantime we have a letter from 
A Busy Farm “Woman’’ 
I am a busy farm, woman. I am 11 
years old. I help my mother to do the 
housework. I do washing every Monday, 
iron every Wednesday, and pull weeds 
from my garden. I planted strawberries 
this year. I found a few great big ones 
on them. Then I planted peas, stringless 
beans, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins and 
lettuce. They all are doing fine since I’ve 
been pulling weeds from them. Weeds 
and weeds come up all the time. 
I have been very busy this year. I was 
intending to write last .Tune, but I was 
busy the first three weeks. Then I was 
taken sick till June 27. Then I had to 
go to school Monday. I did well in ex¬ 
aminations. School finished July 2. 
I have canned 20 quarts plain blue¬ 
berries, 10 quarts peas, 13 quarts beans. 
I did it all myself. 
I have 10 different kinds of house 
plants. Just one is in bloom. 
I have a pet cow. which I take care of 
and milk her every night, and I milk sev¬ 
eral others. 
Well, I hope you will enjoy reading this 
letter. Goodbye. beutiia f. 
Maine. 
They surely do come up all the time. 
The weeds, I mean. They never give us 
a rest. The richer the soil is, the more 
weeds there seem to be. But here is a 
secret: The more we work to kill the 
weeds the better crops we raise. There 
are two reasons for this. The fust is that 
as long as the weeds grow they steal plant 
food and water which belong to our crops. 
T hen we kill the weeds they stop steal; 
iug. The second reason is that in order 
to kill the weeds we have to pull them up 
or hoe them out. In doing this we stir 
the soil about our crops. Stirring the soil 
helps the crops to get more food and 
water. 
I his is the most important time of year 
to get after the weeds. In fence rows 
and around buildings, along roadsides and 
en in tilled fields ragweeds, pigweeds, 
docks, burdocks, thistles, and'a host of 
others are going to seed. You boys and 
girls can help to stop them. Pull them 
out them, and whenever the seeds are 
nearly ripe carry them out to the roads 
1,1 brush heaps to be burned. Every 
weed you kill now means hundreds of 
weeds less next year. 
I am glad Bertha has the house plants, 
and hope a good many of you girls will 
Keep a bright shelf full of them through 
the Fall and Winter. 
Bertha has done well with her canning. 
It is not as easy to can vegetables as it 
is to can fruits, but all it takes is care 
and patience to follow directions. I like 
to go into my own cellar, where the rows 
of jars are growing longer each week. 
Asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, cher¬ 
ries, raspberries, peas and string beans 
are already there. Peaches, sweet corn, 
tomatoes, pears and plums are to come. 
Besides these are various jars of jelly and 
jam and pickles. IIow good they will 
taste next Winter, when the ground is 
white and the cold wind howls! Surely 
here is another reason for liking to live 
on a farm. 
When you read the next letter I am 
sure you will agree that 
It Was a Good Plan 
I came in from the barn tonight with 
nothing to do, so I sat down, picked up 
The Rural New-Yorker and read the 
Boys’ and Girls’ Page all through. Then 
I thought it would be a good plan if I 
wrote a letter and told you about the farm 
I live on. 
I am 11 years old, and I live on a 170- 
acre farm. We have 14 cows, three year¬ 
lings and three calves. I milk five cows 
every night and morning. Our milk goes 
to a powdered milk plant, and is made 
into powdered milk called “Klim.” 
We have two old horses and two colts. 
I like to go out and pet the colts, but it 
is a hard thing to do, because they are 
a bit jealous of each other. 
We have just started haying, so I think 
I will have to work a little harder than 
I have been, as I just returned a few 
days ago from my vacation, which was a 
week’s visit to my uncle in Pennsylvania. 
I had a jolly time fishing and watching 
the bathers in the lake. Now I must 
settle down to work, as I am all the hired 
man my father has got. 
We have a flock of GO or 70 White 
Leghorn hens, but have not had very good 
luck raising the little chickens, as the 
street car killed some, and our cat ate a 
few, so we had to kill the cat. The Leg¬ 
horn hens do not like to set very well, 
and are not very good mothers. 
I forgot to tell you I have a garden 
with popcorn, beets, cabbage, cauliflowers, 
turnips, squashes, pumpkins, radishes and 
potatoes in it. 
I was in the sixth grade in school and 
passed into the seventh grade last June. 
Hoeing and Groicing 
I like to live on the farm, because I 
can have all the milk I want to drink. 
Well, this is all. with good luck to the 
Boys’ and Girls’ Page. willard b. 
New York. 
You will all be interested in Willard’s 
letter. I am glad he wrote it. and hope 
that everyone of you will write one, too. 
What about that vacation? I thought 
vacation for boys and girls was supposed 
to be from the time school closed in June 
until it opened in September, didn't you? 
But Willard doesn’t seem to think so. 
He has to be “hired man.” Good for 
him, I say. I am glad, though, that he 
had that one week of real vacation with 
no work at all. And I imagine he finds 
time to play a bit each day, even in the 
midst of haying. But it is good to have 
work to do. Without it we would be 
miserable. Do your work cheerfully. Do 
it well. Learn to be skilful. Be proud 
of doing things right. Only do not try 
to do things beyond your strength. That 
is not wise. 
Plenty of fresh milk to drink is one 
good reason for liking to live on a farm. 
How many of you have a glass of milk at 
every meal? I do. and I milk it, so I 
know it’s clean. I hope not many boys 
and girls drink tea or coffee. These may 
be all right for older folks, but they are 
not food as milk is, or as cocoa is, if you 
want a warm drink. 
Yes, It Was Mullein 
Up to the day this August page had 
to be sent to the printer (which, by the 
way. was August 10). correct answers 
to the July Wliat la It? had been re¬ 
ceived from Edgerton I... Mildred L., 
Grace S., and Mable W., all living in 
New York State. 
Some of you spelled the word “mullen,” 
which is not wrong, but “mullein” is 
more commonly used. It is a plant that 
it looked upon as a weed, sometimes a bad 
one in old pastures.. In former times 
mullein was used as a medicine for colds 
and the like, but nowadays there are so 
many better things. 
I can see that you are going to like 
the nature puzzle game once we get it 
fairly started. Says one: “I think the 
nature puzzle will be fun.” Another 
writes: “I will try to send a .nature 
puzzle soon.” A third says: “I hope 
there will be a nature puzzle every 
month.” There will be, I promise, as 
long as you send them. Here is the one 
for this month : 
What Is It? 
As I was going out of doors, I saw two 
very funny little creatures. They had 
thin, gauzy wings, which fluttered all the 
time, like those of a humming bird. They 
also had long, sharp bills, which they 
stuck into the flower centers. The colors 
were green, brown and black. One was 
a little larger than the other, and the 
larger one was the brighter colored of the 
two. Their feet and legs were like those 
of a bee. Their tails were like a bird’s 
tail. They were about twice the size of 
a bumble-bee, and made a noise like a 
humming bird. I have seen them twice— 
yesterday and today—but have not seen 
more than two at a time, so they must 
be in pail's. 
This puzzle was sent by Emily A., of 
New York, who says: “I hope someone 
can give an answer to my nature puzzle, 
for I don’t know it myself. I shall watch 
for these creatures to come again, and 
will write if I find out anything more 
about them.” 
Emily’s description is very good, and 
shows that she knows how to look closely 
and can tell what she sees. Your editor 
feels sure he can guess the puzzle, but 
he expects that many of you know it, too. 
and will write him the answer as soon as 
you read this. It will not be giving the 
secret away to say that these creatures 
have a very interesting life story, and to 
hope that you will tell all that you know 
about them, as well as to send the name. 
In the meantime write a puzzle of your 
own. The more you have watched the 
thing you write about, the better puzzle 
you can make. It may be something you 
know very well, or it may be a puzzle to 
you. too, as in Emily’s case. Anyway, 
send it in! 
Before we reach the end of this page a 
few words should be said about 
Aiken and Tige Disagree 
Several Other Things 
The lines in the box this month were 
sent by Stanton N., who lives in the 
Province of British Columbia, Canada, 
IIow many know where it is? Get out 
your maps and look it up. Isn’t is tine 
to think that Our Page goes to so many 
different places? You boys and girls are 
everywhere, and from north, south, east 
and west the letters come. Stanton : s 
right when he says that our pui-pose is 
“to help each other all we can in work 
and play.” Ilavs you done your shai-e? 
Don’t let another month go by without 
writing. 
Grace S., New York, says, “I like 
Adah N’s. plan of making a book of Our 
Page and I am going to do it.” Edith 
M., Missouri, writes, “I will tell you 
how I am going to make my book. I 
am going to make it like a tablet. That 
is not a very good way and I hope some¬ 
one else will know a better way. In the 
front of the book I am going to have a 
picture of a little girl and a calf. Do 
you think that will be all right?” 
Any way is right that keeps the pages 
neat and clean and all together. I found 
it was very hard to get a book big enough 
to hold the pages without cutting them 
up. To cut them up meant a lot more 
work. So what do you think I did? I 
took an old copy of The Rubai, New- 
Yorker. one of the thickest one I could 
find and one with a pretty picture covei*. 
On the inside of the frout cover I pasted 
Our Page for November 1. 1919. It had 
only two columns so I first pasted blank 
paper over the printing on the page, and 
then put the columns on top of that in 
the center. The page for November 29. 
went on the first right-hand page and 
just filled it. Then the others followed 
in order. 
Perhaps you will have other plans for 
books as good or better. Write about 
them. Anyway, make a book and have 
Our Page all together where yoti can go 
back over it at any time. 
When you address your letters put 
these words on the envelope: Edward M. 
Tuttle. 333 West 30th Street, New York 
City, in care The Rural New-Yorker. 
That will save time and trouble in the 
office, for hundreds of other letters go 
there, you know, but only those from boys 
and girls to- your editor. 
Ailecn and Tige Make Up 
