Henry Field’s ‘ 
SEED SENSE 
“FOR THE MAN BEHIND THE HOR”? 
Published by Henry Field in the Print Shop 
Vol. XXXIII 
Shenandoah, Iowa, August, 1949 No. 3 

What of the Future? 
To tell you the truth, things really look better to me 
than they did this time last year. It seems to me we are 
getting by in pretty fair shape—maybe better than we 
had any right to expect. 
We have been blessed with wonderful crops and crop 
prospects so far, at least in most 
parts of the country, and while 
prices of our crops and other prod- 
ucts are down, we all knew all the 
time that they couldn’t be ex- 
pected to stay up forever. 
A Word of Caution 
But we must remember that 
while the Lord has been mighty 
good to us and blessed us with 
about seven years of bounteous 
crops and good prices, there is 
bound to come a time when we will 
get smaller returns and lower 
prices. In other words, “hard 
times.” Maybe not—I hope not, 
but we would be pretty wise to get 
ready in advance for whatever 
comes. 
And that brings me back to my 
old text, of FEED YOURSELF. 
I realize that while we were get- 
ting $2.00 for wheat and corn and 
other crops in proportion, there 
was a great temptation to just 
raise plenty of wheat or corn, or 
potatoes, or whatever your money 
crop is, take the money and buy 
the fruit and flowers and garden 
that you and your family should - 
have. 
Things Are Changing 
But, keep in mind that you can’t keep on doing that 
forever, and I think you see the beginning of the change 
right now. It is bound to come, so make your plans now 
before you get hit too hard, to raise as much as pos- 
sible of your own food, raise plenty of garden of all 
kinds, plenty of fruit and plenty of flowers. They are 
all necessary. One is just about as necessary to our hap- 
piness and well being as the other. 
You’ll Be Happier 
And while it is true you can go out and buy them, when 
you have plenty of money, even then they are not any- 
where near as nice as what you grow yourself. And 
‘ 

New Picture Taken this Summer 
Yes, this is the way I really look, without any 
“dolling up,” but just as you would catch me most 
any day in my own garden, busy with just what 
The older I get, the more 
certain I am that it is the only way to live. H. F. 
Iam preaching to you. 
besides, you miss all of the happiness and contentment 
that comes with growing your own. 
[had a letter today from a lady out in Central Kansas. 
Said they had been working hard, piling up the money 
from their wheat crop, and she decided to take some of 
that money and invest it in more 
pleasure and comfort and happi- 
ness for themselves, so she started 
planting flowers, fruits and having 
a bigger garden, fixing up the 
home, and how happy sheis. I wish 
you could see the letter she wrote. 
Another woman wrote that they 
had bought one of these war-time 
houses a few years ago with noth- 
ing around it but bare dirt — no 
grass—no flowers—no fruit and 
no garden, and how now after 
only three or four years, they had 
all kinds of fruit, strawberries, 
raspberries, plums, cherries, 
worlds of flowers of every kind, 
beautiful green lawn, a few nice 
shade trees — and what a change 
it had made in their happiness and 
their outlook on life 
It’s Fun, Too 
I get literally hundreds of such 
letters, and I am certainly glad to 
know that at least some of the 
people, are taking my advice, liv- 
ing a happy, clean and busy life 
with plenty of good things to eat— 
plenty of flowers and fruit for 
their family. 
And they all enjoyed the pleasure of doing it them- 
selves—that’s half the fun. 
Plant this Fall 
And remember that you can start in right now—this 
fall. You don’t have to wait until spring. Lots of people 
do not realize that almost all of the hardy shrubs, flow- 
ers and fruits do better planted in the fall than in the 
spring. Everything in this fall catalog (and some things 
besides) can be planted with splendid results in Septem- 
ber and October, and even into November, and will come 
out fine and dandy in the spring. It will give you quicker 
and better results than you will get by waiting for 
spring planting. —Henry Field. 
Copyright, 1949, Henry Field Seed & Nursery Co. 
