The Red Cloud chief., 1879-06-05
"THE COUGHING PRINTER"

The A~Rricultural Lessons Of n Brief but
Remarkable Career.
It il a common observation that farm
ers who desert the pillow for the shop or
counter rarely succeed, while the city
man who turns farmer frequently gets
on in bis new calling quite as well - his
and occasionally far Outstrips
them. Examples of these general truths
must occur to every observing reader.
One of them deserves especial recogni-
ton in view of the remarkable present
among unemployed towns
people of the East to establish them-
selves on the cheap lands of the West.
Whatever may be the result of this new
departure In their case, others before
them have found it gainful, as is Illus
trated in the following brief but true
sketch of the late S. M. Wingert.
At the age of 10, when Lee surren-
dered, ne unshackled his saber, ex-
changing it for a composing-stick in a
Pennsylvania printing-office. His trade
learned, he followed the Star of Empire
by easy marches; halted long enough in
Illinois to marry a helpful wife, and
finally, in 1868, brought up in Lawrence,
Kansas. Here he worked on the morn
ing papers, and was regarded as one of
the best compositors in the West, his
weeks ssstring" frequently coming to
SS5, and once to S37. so, at 45 cents a
thousand ems. The result of such as
siduous application vas a racking asth-
matte caugh, which gained for him the
sou6riquet of the coughing Printer"
and finally compelled him to change his
~sscase'' for outdoor life and exercise if
he would live at all.
Accordingly, in the beginning OF
1876, aged 20, he came to Kansas City,
with $500, his entire capital, in his
pocket. Ignorant Of the business him
self, he went into partnership with an
old gardener who had been "busted''
by the drouth of the previous year. The
firm leased three acres of choice selec-
ton, with a habitable house, inside the
city limits, at $3.50 a year and 10 acres
outside at $40. All went in the usual
routine with them, till the young grass
hoppers Git was the year those pests last
Matched in Kansas) began their work.
Most gardeners then gave up; but the
"Printer'' had followed Sheridan, and
was son the fight" The three acres
containing the hot-beds, plant-beds and
early vegetables, were fenced with q
tight fence and ditched; the hoppers in
side driven out and killed, and the out
siders kept out by, frequently, a dozen
men kept brushing down the fence and
cleaning up the ever. filling ditch into a
nearby stream.
Referring to Mr.. Wingert's diary l
find under dates of May 10 and 20 ('75)
"Terrible grasshopper fighting; sixteen
persons engaged; garden almost in
tact" May 26, "Nothing of note for
the past week but red-hot grasshopper
fighting" It was q costly war, but ii
paid. On the Sd of June-day of bless
ed memory-when the locusts few,
nearly every body was cleaned-out
there were substantially no home
grown plants or vegetables. The firm
lived up to their privileges in the
way of prices. They sold s7C0 worth
of plants, and had the sagacity to re.
fuse IS cents per hundred for enough
cabbage plants TO set seven acres, and
were JUSTIFIED by the returns. The re-
suit of the years work was: Plants
sold, 500; vegetables sold, S2,409.41
total, $S,10S.41; expenses, $1,145. IL,
leaving 81, 1908. 80, or 1881. IS apiece. II
is nothing like the showing you can find
in any book on the subject; but in real
life, for q green hand, it will do.
Mr.. Wingert had never made so little
money in . year since he was q journey
man, and had never saved so much.
His health had improved greatly. Con-
sidering his inexperience and slender
resources, he was elated with the out
come of his venture and the prospect Of
the future. He dissolved the partner.
ship and resolved to "strike out for
himself OF q larger scale. He now
rented . farm of SIS acres, four miles
from the market-house, for five years at
$500 q year. 1t was q corn farm in the
Ksw Bottoms, in good condition for
ine-haired crops. But about three acres
of it were put in the best shape the cir
cumstances permitted for the garden
proper. Fifty sash were used, mainly
in forcing cabbage, lettuce and tomato
plants. Thirteen acres of corn were
planted for feed, thirteen acres in late
cabbage, twelve acres in Irish and sweet
potatoes, four acres in melons, six
acres were in orchard. pasture, etc,
and the remainder in the usual small
crops. It was . good year all round,
but the " big money" wa in the late
cabbage. Total receipts, %, 900. IS:
expenses, S1,S40.05; balance, S1,08O. 20.
The next year ('7T we were nearly
ruined in Kansas by ''over production"
Truck was low and weeds were high.
Mi. Wingert's sales for the year amount
ed to S3,O54 IS, and the outlay was
81, 456. 66; profit, only s59S.a0. But
all this time he was getting familiar
with his business If he was not getting
be picked mp the most approved
methods and secured the most efficient
he cleased his business
acauaintance, took lessons In the proper
proportion Of his planting, in econo-
uizing labor, in reducing the whole