HOUSE AND GARDEN 
August, 
1914 
crowns, fertilizer and la¬ 
bor of setting them out 
make the cost of starting 
them from $75 to $100 
per acre, so that I could 
not put out much the first 
year. I purchased 200 
strawberry plants, and 
when these made runners 
in August, I set out from 
them about 1,000 more, 
making perhaps one-fifth 
of an acre of plants. 
I may say, right here, 
that I did not do this 
work myself, as my 
health would not permit 
it. I had engaged at $28 
per month a young man 
who lived nearby. He 
did the entire work, as¬ 
sisted at times by an extra man. For a few months I hired a 
horse and team when necessary, but in August, after looking 
around carefully, I purchased a steady-going mare for $200. 
She was represented as being perfectly satisfactory in all respects, 
and she was a good driver, though rather slow. The first time 
I put her to work in a plow, however, she absolutely refused to 
work. She seemed to be willing to haul a buggy all right, but 
she was above anything so menial as plowing. She was, in fact, 
quite a balker, and it was only after slowly training her up to it — or 
rather down to it — that she became willing to do any heavy work. 
In doing all these things I found it necessary to make a great 
many purchases of tools, etc., which altogether made quite an 
amount of cash necessary. A buggy, a light wagon, cultivators, 
spades, shovels, rakes etc., and many other things. A ton of 
fertilizer cost about $30. Twenty loads of manure cost $40. Al¬ 
together, in spite of my income of $250 per month, I found it 
necessary in June to borrow $300 more, and later $200 more to 
meet the demands of the farm. But I thought that this would 
be all right later, as I certainly would make enough from the 
farm to settle up these matters. 
My first disappointment came when the wheat was harvested. 
Early in July I paid a neighbor $10 for harvesting it for me — a 
little more than it was worth, perhaps. No sooner was it cut 
than a heavy rain started, and every day or so for a month it 
rained, giving the crop no 
time to dry out for 
threshing. It began to 
mold; some of it to 
sprout. The rats and 
mice made nests in the 
shocks, living off it mean¬ 
while, and the birds of 
the air ate all the wheat 
from the tops of the 
shocks. But finally it 
stopped raining, the 
shocks were spread out 
and dried and the thresh¬ 
ing machine came, and 
for about $4 I had it 
threshed and put in my 
bins. It had cost me, al¬ 
together, $81.85, and I re¬ 
ceived 71 bushels, which 
at that time were worth 
about 90 cents per bushel. 
Early in August, after 
this rainy spell, I pur¬ 
chased about 3,500 celery 
plants and set them out, 
after elaborate prepara¬ 
tion of the ground. But 
the season was adverse. 
The rains of July seemed 
to have exhausted the 
supply of moisture, for it 
did not rain again to 
speak of for almost three 
months after the celery 
was set out. As every 
one knows that celery re¬ 
quires plenty of water, 
the result may be im¬ 
agined. Every few days 
for weeks we hauled 
water by the barrel and 
watered those plants, but the labor was too great, and the press 
of other matters made it impossible to be kept up indefinitely. 
There was but little growth before October, and by November 
there were about 1,000 heads left, small and undeveloped. We 
had all we wanted to use ourselves, but there was little that was 
fit to sell. Later in the winter I did sell about $6 worth of the 
best of it. 
My lima beans had taken advantage of the July rains and 
grown well, but the drought afterwards rather discouraged them. 
On the whole, however, they produced a fair crop that promised 
returns. But the harvesting of them I found a difficult matter. 
Lima beans have to be picked and shelled for market, and are 
shipped in quart boxes, like strawberries. I discovered that each 
quart cost me about ten cents for picking and shelling alone. An 
expert sheller can shell about three pints per hour. The market 
price, early in the season was about 20 cents per quart, but it 
soon dropped to 15 cents, then to 12 cents, and a final lot which 
I shipped to Baltimore returned me but 8 cents per quart. I 
allowed the remainder to ripen on the vines and picked them dry. 
I had a fair crop of melons, but not enough to ship, and I 
found on inquiry that the best price that I could get in the local 
market for good-sized melons was a dollar a dozen, with but 
little demand. I did not sell any, but we had plenty to eat, and 
I gave away to my neighbors dozens of them which we could not 
use. The dry weather 
was also prejudicial to the 
development of my onion 
crop. I got about three 
bushels, where I should 
have, with good condi¬ 
tions, harvested at least 
fifty bushels. By Novem¬ 
ber the majority of them 
had attained the size of 
“sets,” and they were al¬ 
lowed to remain out all 
winter in the hope that 
they would he prepared 
to make an early start in 
the spring. 
I had heard that sugar 
beets were excellent for 
horses, cows and chick¬ 
ens, so I put in a half- 
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