The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-10-28
THE WIFE Of A FARMER.
She Should Be in All Respects Her
Husbands Partner in
Business.
Some Of the Very Many Things
That Women on Farms
May Dc.
But Hard Work Has Eaten Her Heart
Ont. While Her Immortal Hops
Has DwindIed.

SASSfpihS " " phDys 10 tuo AuOtCCJS DCIt
back Of the woman who has spent the best
years of her life as the SO called mistress of
Alarm. There is but one thing that matches
it, and that is her face, large eyed, withered,
rigid, dead; she has borne her children, suf-
fered her woman's hope and baptism Of
pain, and has done the work every day that
would have broken down three men. When
the farmland came In from the field, he
ruminated on the doorstep or with his feet
on the hearth. She had the dishes to wash,
the children to put to bed, and then sat
down with the family mending basket.
In the early days she had her ambitions
for herself, and her children, and her hus-
band, but hard work and that mortgage on
the farm have eaten out her heart, and
now, with a sort Of hopeless, bovine pa
thence, she looks on children grown up to
just what she did not wish, while her i'm
mortal hope has dwindled to one great
yearning for rest. Is there nothing better
for the woman of the American farmf No
remedy There is. Let her begin her life
not only rs the farmers wife, but AZ his
partner in business.
There are money making interests on q
farm which are forever undeveloped un-
less the woman makes them evolute. But
first and chief it is necessary, unless the
farmers wife will settle down to be only
the head girl" of the concern without a
dollar of wages-working for her victuals
and do~thes-that she shall manage some
cash producing business and be recognized
as a producer. Such u position is impera-
tive to prevent the whole investment Of
the farm being risked in one sided farm
ing, and that the mans side, for, however
wise his management, it represents only
the masculine idea.
There are capabilities in a woman for
organizing and utilizing money making
opportunities on a farm that would other
wise go TO waste. Her main obstacles are
that she will not plan broadly enough, will
not thoroughly ~acquaint herself with bust
ness details and will be too timid to as
sumo financial responsibility In the face Of
the wet blanketing her propositions will
get nine times out of ten.
But In every direction women have dem
onstrated their ability as farm producers.
1t is a well recognized fact that southern
women planters are usually q success and
often make plantations pay" where the
husband had succeeded only in increasing
the mortgage and dying of encouragement.
One instance will suffice.
A planters wife was left with a Missis-
sippi river plantation under $4,000 mort
gage and a family of five children just
ready for school and college. The two years.
illness of her husband had given her a grasp
of the business. After his death, when the
commission merchant came up to ''close
her OUT" the improved condition of the
place and the wisdom of her plans caused
him to say, ''Ill advance all the money you
want this year." At the end of three years
she had paid the mortgage, sent her sons
and daughters to college, and her planta-
ton was universally confessed to be the
best improved one in the county. Not very
long after she married the young man
whom she had placed in charge Of a store
she opened.
God alone can fathom the mysteries of a
nature that conceived it needed a partner
in such success. 1t only proves that ma
tur' will caper' in the face of any power of
business or ballot, and that the family in
stincts of women reign It'll death do us
part,'' Notwithstanding the fears Of some
timid men.
The dairy scientifically managed affords
work for women's hands and brains. One
young woman in Scotland became SO pro-
fcient she was engaged to give a course of
dairy instruction in A~berdeenshire, which
Vcbb 0OSALCA 81 nANbD ~ was pei
nently retained in that district. Cheese
and butter offer a large field. The culture
of bees, silkworms, poultry, eggs, beef cat
tie, sheep and wool, and even horses, has
been successfully manipulated by enter
prising women. A woman near Los An
geles has made a wendrous success of a rose
farm, the product being altar of roses for
the market.
Mrs. Henry Barroillhet, the widow of a
San Francisco banker, who gave up his
great fortune on the failure of his bank,
went resolutely to work to supply the San
Francisco market with flowers. She now
owns 14o acres of fine landau in cultiva-
ton. Seven acres are in orchard. Five
acres are in ~violets, with an increase of Is
more this autumn. Seven acres are in
chrysanthemums, while roses, lilies and
other flowers colne in for a big share of the
acreage Two thousand eucalyptus trees,
5000 pines and sequoias and other trees are
very profitable, the leaves and branches be
ing used as evergreens in decoration.
The best testimonial to the beauty of her
flowers and the favor with which they are
regarded by San Francisco is the fact that
about 5000 chrysanthemums, 1900 punches
of ~violets, 800 to 1000 Duchessc dc Brabmt
roses, to say nothing of other varieties, are
daily shipped during their seasons. Her
speciality, however, is in ~viOlets, for which
she receives g.. so per dozen punches. Chrys
anthemums bring from l to 8 cents apiece,
governed by size rather than color or beauty,
This flower plantation il described IA a per