HENRY FIELD’S SEED SENSE 
“FOR THE MAN BEHIND THE HOE” 
Published by Henry Field Seed & Nursery Co. 
Field No. 1 Building Shenandoah, Iowa 
Henry Field, Editor 
Contributors 
“Alfalfa” John Nicolson (Seed) Uelen Field Fischer (Flowers) 
Pate Simmons (Seed & Nursery) LeOna Nicolson (Nursery) - 
Paul Wilkinson (Nursery) Irving Steurer (Garden Seed) 
Deane Schneider (Field Seed) —c& all my friends and customers 
Subscription Price—A Garden Seed, Field Seed 
or Nursery Order 




Please Help Me : 
I’ve asked for your help before and always gotten it and 
now I’m going to have to do it again. And this time all I’m 
asking is that you be patient with me if everything on your 
order doesn’t come exactly on the day you expect it. 
You all know everyone is planting a garden this year. What 
with food rationing and lack of transportation of food garden- 
ing seems to be absolutely necessary. And I’m allforit. Been 
preaching that gospel for over 50 years anyway. 
But my point is that with this extra heavy demand, and 
with the mails sometimes slowed up, and with the difficulty 
of getting extra help—that if we shouldn’t get your order to 
you just when you expect it that you won’t holler too loud, 
‘too soon. 
By that I don’t mean that if something is wrong, you’ve got 
to just keep quiet and take it. I don’t. If anything is wrong 
with any order you send to Henry Field all you have to do is 
say so and we’ll fix it up to suit you. But what I am asking 
is that if your order is delayed a few days, that instead of 
writing right away, you give us a few extra days. Chances 
are it will be on its way to you just as soon as is absolutely 
possible and writing won’t hurry it up anyway. And maybe 
we’ve had to make a slight change in your order. If we do, 
we'll put in a note explaining it and will do our best to pick 
out something that will please you. And, of course, if it’s 
wrong we'll see that it’s made right or no deal, but if you ean 
possibly use it, please do. 
I don’t ask you for too many favors, so I know you’ll help 
me out on this one. ge ied 
About the Alfalfa Seed Shortage 
On account of the large shipments of field seed and garden 
seed that have gone to Russia, England and North Africa for 
our Allies under the Lend-Lease program, and the great needs 
in this country to support the government food program, many 
varieties of seed are going to run out. 
To make things worse, we had one of the shortest crops of 
alfalfa seed in the northern part of this country we’ve had in 
many, many years. 


There just won’t be enough alfalfa seed to go around. If. 
you’ve got yours you’re lucky, and if you intend to plant al- 
_falfa seed this spring, get it quick. It isn’t a question of 
whether it’s going to be higher priced or not—there just sim- 
ply isn’t enough of it to go around, and if you’re depending on 
an alfalfa hay field to keep the cost down on producing your 
livestock write your order up and send it in today, 
This goes for any kind of seed, but alfalfa seed is just a lit- 
tle the shortest of anything in the field seed line. 
Moon Sign Planting Dates 
SS EES SO LOT CSE OTOL EOE EDS LETT DEORE © OSE IS Et IE ISON 
Here are the Planting Dates for 1943, according to Llewellyn 
Moon Sign Book, which is probably the best authority. 
Early Potatoes, Beets, Carrots, and Onions—March 24-25, and 
April 1-2-20-21. 
Late Potatoes—May 26-27 and June 22-23. 
Garden Peas, Cabbage, and Lettuce—March 14-15 
10-11 (the earlier date is the best). 
Early Garden Beans—April 10-11 and May 8-9. 
Field Beans—June 14-15. 
Sweet Corn and Field Corn, Melons, Cucumbers, and other vine 
erops—<April 10-11, May 8-9-17-18. 
Tomatoes—same as corn. 
Late String Beans and Cucumbers (late planting for canning 
and pickling)—July 11-12. - 
And here are the dates for cutting noxious weeds, sprouts, and 
briars, so they will not come again. 
July 26-27—July 31—August 27-28-29, 
CANE Sr SE 
Except the: flood, nothing was ever as bad as reported. 
and April 
‘and night and will give you the best service we possibly c 






























I hope you'll excuse me if I print a picture over again 
this happens to be one of my favorites. It illustrates, be 
than I ever could in words, one of the joys of gardeni 
looking over the harvest and finding it good. ° 
There’s no end to what you can raise if you'll just try. 
at our Ozark cabin we raise everything we need, but a lit 
salt and tea and coffee now and then and this is just a samp) 
of what was to be had out of the garden at one time—not 
everything we raise. ~ 
Among the food you’ll find here are peaches, toma 
gourds, ground cherries, squashes, beets, peppers, muskme 
cucumbers, potatoes, sunflowers, sweet corn, pumpkins, 
beans, pole beans and a lot more of all of it where this 
from. : 

know whether or not it will do any good, but it looks 
now like there might not be ah April Seed Sense, a 
You see, we come under the government order cutt 
of paper by 10% and we may have to drop the Ap 
Sense to comply. a me Se 
I'll keep trying, but if I don’t succeed, I thought I 
warn you so you won’t have to write if you don’t get you 
It probably won’t be a case of missing you, but of mi 
everyone. Anyway, we'll see. Sen 
Order Early! 
This year, of all years, be smart and send your o 
just as many weeks before you want it as you possi 
There may be some delays or we may be temporarily i 
something for a day or so because of slow transportation 
if you don’t want to run a chance of being disappointed—s 
those orders in RIGHT NOW. We’re all set up to run | 

but in these days it’s smarter to be sure than sorry. 
Essay on Bugs 
(Written in fun by one of the seedhouse folks—name wi 
request) , “i 
Bugs is critters with small bodies and large appetites. Th 
the things most seed catalogs don’t tell about but you’ll soon 
out about. They is well known to old gardeners. You new 
deners can read about them here or just wait—you’ll meet th 
Bugs is divided into two classes. Bad and very bad. Mos 
bugs fit in the second group. Bugs is also divided into red 
blue bugs, striped bugs, etc., but that don’t do much go / 
colors eat about the same. 
"ys 
Besides large appetites, bugs also have large families 
three trillion little bugs per year is about average. In ext 
gardening years they have 10 trillion. In fact, if little bu: 
dollars we could pay off the national debt, which they ain’ 
if little bugs was dollars there would be some sense to them. 
tle bugs never grow up into anything good. They alway: ) 
into big bugs, and they all come to my garden to live. 
Some bugs is specialists. They eat only muskmelons o 
only cucumbers and hence are called cucumber bugs, 
don’t you believe that. I never yet saw a bug go hungr 
his specialty wasn’t in your garden. ; 2A 
There are various ways to deal with the bug problem, ) 
ple move. Some people go hungry. But most people 
Field’s Bug Dust and knock the tar out of the little $@: 
* 
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