Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1886-12-17
farmers' Column.
Give fools their gold q k aves their power
Let fortunes bubbles rise and fail;
Who sows a field or trains a flower.
Or plants a tree. is more than all.
How One Man Worked an Acre and a
Half.

Or plants a tree. is more than all.
How One Man Worked an Acre and a
Half.
To be sure it was at the LANDS
End" and in a climate favorable to
gardening from its moisture, but about
one-half was swamp and the other half
croft. This very small farmer says:
"My first work was to throw open
drains and to break up the fallow
ground, which supplied stones for the
drains instead of pipes. The swamp
part was first planted with cabbages,
and the drier part with potatoes, with
little guano as manure. The sue
ceeding crop was barley and oats, with
grass to follow, so that l might COM
mence poultry farming on a small
scale, to which | had been looking for
ward from the beginning. ! soon got
good stock, consisting of Black Ham
burgs, Andalusians, Houdans, Minor
cas-, and Dorkings, in all about 200,
which were confined in about one ight
of an acre at time by wire netting
and changed until they had run over
the whole plot, thereby considerably
enriching the poor land, so much So
that | commenced gardening opera
tons. A portion was allotted to flow
er culture, more especially narcissus,
also straw berries, certain sorts Of which
do exceedingly we'll, whereas other
kinds have failed, SO [ decided to grow
only what does best in the soil. Hav-
ing a knowledge of carpentering l
thought that | would erect winery
and try grape growing, which l did
about six and a half years ago, though
at the time my knowledge of vine Gull
ture was very limited, bat as from the
beginning my motto had been mil
desperandum," | felt determined to
persavere. While building this, my
first green house Ga lean to about As
feet long by Ii wlde) | was often laugh
ed at and some of my neighbors thought
me crazy, and tried to dissuade me
from doing such a silly thing. How
ever the house was completed, and IA
vines planted in an outside border
carefully prepared soon began to make
rapid growth. The inside border was
first cropped with early potatoes, that
were sold 10 February for about six
teen cents per pound. This crop was
succeeded by cucumbers, which were
very abundant. The following year
the young vines produced several
punches of nice grapes, and each year
since the crop has been very abund-
ant.
s.What has been about the expense
in connection with this enterprise, may
be asked. This is rather a difficult
question to answer, as literally work
ed night and day, at night preparing
the wood work for the houses, and cul-
tivating the land, &C., in the daytime.
Sometimes | had one and at other
times two laborers in my employ, also
occasionally calling in iobbing gar
denef. II capital was at hand a half
dozen hands might have been profita-
bly, employed. One object which l
consider very important one, is the
finding employment for my family of
thirteen children, two of whom are
now assisting me, the eldest being II
years of age. know of no better en-
ploYment, so | reckon to End work for
them all.
''By taking my acre and half Of
almost worthless land from the farm
to which it was attached, no perceiya-
BILE difference has been made to If in
rent or otherwise. But above twenty
persons have to live on the acre and a
half, while only about half the num-
Der live on the farm itself. NY lessor
having been so we'll satisfied with
what | have already done, recently Of
fered me another piece, about two acres
of the poorest kind of waste land, on
very reasonable terms, which | have
accepted, and intend to proceed on
similar lines with reference to it. Let
enterprising men only have some of
the waste lands about on easy terms,
and with little capital in very few
years they will be able to show what
can be done toward improving the So
cial, moral and religious condition OF
dear old England. There is certainly
no need that we should so overcrowd
our cities and large towns while there
is ample room and employment for all
IT only the waste lands were utilized. :"
1t is pleasant to know that the wri-
ter of this has ninety years lease on
his redeemed land