Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1885-03-05
AGRICULTURAL MATTERS.
a rzN-AuRs FARM,
And What Came OF IA; College and
Foreign Travel.

Foreign Travel.
New York Observer.
ny friend aad | had besu talking sboat
he growing tendency IN Americs 70 re
urn to ocuntry lie, and then learned
Tor the fret time tbst his was bu. 10
Acre farm, or had tssn .cr % years, un,ii
three years ago, whsn 6'e more acres
were added to It,
And do you really mesu," said,
that of these 10 scres you have sup |
ported your family, and in rugged New
EnglaudH'
"Yes and sent the two elder boys to |
college, for the Junior and senior years,
and had, with my wife, trip to |
Europe"
The memory Of the Thousand acre
farms had seen in tha west rose up very |
wildly beside this toy affair, and / |
frankly confessed 10 my friend that hls
ways aud their results were beyord my
understanding.
"Well," he said, s'there is q great deal
in choosing the work We are best fitted to
do. like farming. and do not like the
noise OF the world, 30 chose farming
for my work. Then, when left college,
and was oRstins about for the oleArest
a
= good number Of young men returned
from the vest, bankrupt in almost eveiy-
thing but their eloquence to plead
against emigration westward. In the
east, they said, we hear Of the one man
who Is success, but almost never Of the
hundreds who are failures. Aud so II
was perhaps In this way that was led
10 conclude that few acres cultivated,
AZ - IL
and schools, and churches, and doctors,
and middlemen or near markets, and IN a
healthful neighborhood, was q better
outlook than many acres in the west,
all studded over with ohiils and fever
traps and loneliness. So, starting with
patrimony Of "a, 000,I paid $500 for this
plAoe-its owners, unable to make 4
living, had gone west-And spent 81, zoe
more in repairing and furnishing.
brought my bride 10 II one summer
morning and told her we had the farm,
the interest OF $4,000 and our faith tc
start life with"
"But the surprising thing Ia not thai
you have done SO much with so little, but
that you have done 1t on worn-out soil, !
"That the New England soil is Wort
ont is the most amusing argument that Il
ever presented against New England
farming. The soil is not worn out, and Il
only hard by comparison with western
virgin soil. Old England Is smaller thar
the state Of New York, and has beer
feeding her millions for centuries, ant
exporting as we'll. Germany sends Il
great America oargoes Of vegetables, and
fact disgraceful and almost unbelievable
hundreds Of barrels Of eggs yearly
Mountainous little Switzerland takes car,
Of herself, and exports, too. Will,
comparatively small France has WORKED
over and over again every inoh Of he
soil, and given to all the world 9 shAr
Of Its delicate products. / wish ooult
tell you the exact number-I have
somewhere-of the hundreds Of thou
sands Of chickens raised In Franc
yearly, and Of the great income there
FROM"
"But ali these people, you forget, ar
Just living there is no tomorrow 10
them"
81 don't think the tillers Of the soil i
France, for instance, need come I
America to learn the lessons OF to mol
row. Their tomorrow ia assured in tn
peacefulness and content and quiet IL
dustry Of to-day. The fact ia, believ,
am coming to the conclusion, that vRi
territory Ia not an unmitisated blessing
Our young men are led by 1t to reso
afar off for what lies unheeded at the
very door, and they are often Rrenche
to pieces by the effort. Hundreds
them, after dreary failures, are no
wearing their lives out on misery wage
while the farms Of their ancestors 81
going 10 ruin."
"But you must confess that forum
are not made on farms.''
"The rest and peace and homeline
and healthfulness Of a country life mi
well be taken in exchange for the ba
dream OF fortune, and more than "
think would take them II they wers n
crippled by fear TO move step fro
their secured crust"
WELL now let us 20 back and tsll m
pray, how you have brought up u lar
family on 10 acres
sit has been done by industry, eco
omy, and turning every shadow Of an 0
portunity to advantage. Every one OF
has been producer. Rvery thing pos
BILE has been made to produce Rven o
two sugar naples have contributed tht
share. My eldest daughter has ms
bees her study, and has 8 regular mArh
in Boston and Springfield for her hone
Ny two elder sons when home devo,
themselves especially to the raising
asparagus and celery, and became tamO
in the growing Of both. 1t was for tn,
two vegetables that have bought
extra fve acres for my two younger so
who will be farmers. Our chickens a
our turkeys in winter have steady sale
near cities; and we sell hundreds of ec
l.. !
result Of the sale OF blackber presery
berries gathered on these Frank
Hills, where hundreds CT quarts Of tn
yearly go TO waste. You know, perha
that we import from EuglAnd and Sc
land great quantities OF preserves a
mArmslAde. We have even ssnt ohio
flowers from our conservatory to Bost
florists during the winter"
"And this reminds me, what do you
on this ideal farm In winter p"
"A farm In winter has disclosed, to
at least, what possibilities lie In ev,
human being. Our indoor life /
developed In our children the most Gu
ous talents. The eldest boy, for instan
now studying art, actually mended wi
he was home all our shoes-the lesi
learned through occasional visits TO
village shoemaker. The second son, v
has elected TO be q minister, built t
door in the wall Rnd made the sofa
are sitting on. Necessity, in fact,
msde them 30 quick to do everytbi
that calls for outside help, with us,
almost unknown. As for my own wini
have generally had three or four Lad
teach with my own sons and my
has given music lessons. 1t was, In I
by these winter methods that we got
trip TO Rurope.''
Ny friend wGs apt to baoome RArrul
when his family and his farm were III
discussion SO here l turned ava
while to compare things.
That evening there was great "
fire on the sitting room hearth, for
October nights are cool. Said my fri,
after q silence, with his eyes fixed on
dancing flame, Charming too, Is
safest occupation. A farm can't burn
One can't be robbed Of It; and its prod
are always growing and increasing G
while its owner idles or sleeps. And Il
too" he added little tendsrly, "a 4
gives the children homestesd."