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“FOR THE MAN BEHIND THE HOE’’ 

Vol. XXXII 



Shenandoah, Iowa, March, 1948 
Published by Henry Field in the Print Shop————______—- 











Ym not sure whether this will be talking or preaching, 
‘nor which will come first. Hard to tell. Generally they get 
pretty well mixed up before I get through—but any way I 
- want-to talk over some of our problems—and if I get to 
you from the same old text—“Feed Yourself’—for what- 
ever I start talking about I generally wind’ up with that. 
_ The whole world—including our own country—is in an 
‘awful mess. No question about it. How it will all come 
out I don’t know. But_this : 
- much F do know! The one 
- thing that will pull us out of 
 it—if anything can—is’ for 
everybody, our own country 
and all the rest, to get to 
work and “feed yourself.” 
- We won the War with food. 
And if we are ever going to 
have Peace we will have to 
~ win with food._ And the best 
way you can help on that is 
to grow your own share. Feed 
yourself and help by taking 
that much off of the load. 
Stop the fighting and feud- 
ing, the arguing and orating, 
the running around all night 
_ and setting around all -day, 
the scheming and politicking, 
the “trying to keep up with 
the Joneses,” and settle down 
to old fashioned steady work 
and neighborliness and a 
_ general policy of peace and 
decency. 
Carry your own share of 
the load. Don’t depend on 
the rest of the world to feed 
you and carry itto you. And 
above all—have a garden and 
grow your own food. Foodis 
the most important thing in 
‘ the world now, and getting 
i worse. - If our civilization 
_ crashes in the next few years 
(as some fear it may) it will 
be on the question of food. © 
But whatever happens, the 
biggest and best thing you ; 
can do is be on the safe side and grow your own food and 
_be independent. With even a small piece of ground you 
~ ean be almost entirely self-supporting. Thousands of fam- 
ilies who read this are already doing it and know it can be 
done. And they are healthier and happier for doing it. 
And don’t forget gardens for the children. Let them 
- help with yours, and let them have gardens of their own, 
too. It’s the best training a child ever had. And how they 
* 
and visiting a little. 
enjoyment doing it. 
talking pretty positive to you I’ll probably be preaching at 

“LET'S TALK IT OVER”. 
Yes, here we are, Mrs. Field and myself, just talking to you 
Yes, we are both a little older and a little 
grayer, but both still going strong, hard at work, and happy in 
our work. The 11 children are all married and in homes of their 
own and we are all alone in the big: old house, but we don’t have 
time to get lonesome, with so much to do and having so much 
There’s no tonic like hard work, and 
helping others to be happier, healthier, and more prosperous, 
In summer we spend quite a bit of time at our “Ozark Garden,” 
but wherever we are you will find us busy and happy. 
Still Talkin’ and Preachin’ 
do love it. It teaches them to be independent and resource- | 
ful and creative. And above all, it teaches them the benefit 
and happiness and beauty of work. And the habit of work 
is the best habit in the world. We ought to know, for we 
raised eleven children on garden and hard work, and they 
are a pretty good bunch if I do say it myself. 
And grow plenty of fruit, too—and flowers. 
beauty for both body and soul. There’s no happiness in the 
world like growing a garden. You are “partner with the 
Almighty” creating food and 
health and beauty. 
Study our catalog. You will 
find page after page telling you 
how to garden. Not just trying 
to sell you seeds and plants, but™ 
trying to*help you have a better 
garden. I don’t think you will 
find another seed catalog in the 
world giving as much time and 
effort just trying to help you. 
And just a word about prices 
—I know it’s a touchy subject. 
We are all sore about it. We are 
all agreed that prices must come 
down before they plum blow up. 
But have you noticed how we 
are trying to set a pattern in the 
right direction in our catalog by 
really making lower prices. In- 
stead of marking up our prices 
as many have been doing, we 
have actually reduced them—be- 
‘lieve it or not. 
I really think that we are giv- 
ing you wonderful quality, good 
honest quality, but we would 
welcome price comparison with 
anybody. We are trying to do 
our share to keep prices down. 
And if you will grow a garden, 
and keep a few chickens, and (if 
you are where you can) keep a 
cow and a- few pigs, food prices 
don’t need to worry you a bit. 
You can laugh at them. 
Although Mrs. Field and I are 
both rather old and very busy, 
we grow our own food and then 
some, and have a happy good 
time doing it. We live well, and 
eat well, but I doubt if our gro- 
cery bill amounts to $5.00 a 
week. How does that compare 
with yours? Well, you know 
what you can do about it. You can grow your own food like we 
do, or just fuss about prices and half starve. It’s up to you. | 
Look through our catalog. Take an evening to it and study it 
good. Then, order some seeds and plants and get to work. It 
won’t hurt you a bit. Infact, it’s more fun and better health 
than anything you’ve tried for a long time. 
But it’s time right now to get busy. Look through this Seed 
Sense. You will find a lot of good new ideas, and helps, and 
special offers in here.—Henry Field. 
Food and 
HLF, 
Copyright, 1948, Henry Field Seed & Nursery Co. 
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