Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1895-09-05
A Chat on Farming.


vacant lots into potato gardens for
the poor. The Secretary of Agricult-
ure believes that there is money in
farming. Heis man of much wealth,
and a great part Of his fortune has
come out of the soil.
Said the Secretary There Is no
doubt that there will be large de-
mand for all the potatoes that these
cities will raise this year and for years
to come. We raised last year more
than 100000 bushels of potatoes
in the United States, and these brought
about $9I, 100000. The crop was,
however, not enough by millions of
bushels to supply our demand and
potatoes always bring a high price.
This is especially so in the cities, and
if these people will work there Is no
doubt that they can make some money
out of their crop. The great obJec-
ton I have to the method being EN-
ploved is that the land is given to the
poor for nothing. 1t ought to be
rented to them at very low rate, and
YOU would then find ten men engaged
in the cultivation of the soil where
one is doing it now. People don't
want what they can get for nothing,
and measures like this tend to the
education Of paupers.
"Ayhat do you think of the way our
farmerslive, Mr.. Secretary" asked,
"Would it not be better if they lived
in villages and not on their farms?
"In many respects, yes, was the
reply. The farmers wife has a
dreary lot. She is in most cases little
better than slave to her work and
her house. She drags out sad exist
ence, scrubbing and cooking, with few
resources outside of herself | can't
imagine anything much worse than
her condition, and it seems to me that
the European system of farm villages
is better than ours. And still, the
most of our farmers wives are bright
women. They are, as a rule, indus
trious and good business women, but
they get little for it. | believe IN
making women to large extent the
business partners of their husbands.
They are not 50 in the case of most
men. Take, for instance, story /
heard the other day about the family
ofan old farmer in Indiana. The man
and his wife had lived together for
fifty wears. Their children had grown
up and left them, and now, at seventy,
the farmer found the burden of his
work too much for him, and he decld-
cd TO sell his farm and live off Of the
interest. It was worth $4,000, but
when the deed came to be made the
farmers wife objected. She said she
had helped to pay for the farm. She
had worked all her life for II, and she
was bound to have some Of the money
which it brought before she signed the
deed. The lawyer and the husband
were dumbfounded. They had not
anticipated snch complication, and
at last one Of them asked the old lady
how much she thought she ought to
have. She hesitated moment, and
then said that she believed she was
really entitled to ask for as much as
$2."
The conversation here again turned
to eggs, and Secretary Morton told me
how the dealers sometimes attempted
to put up corners on eggs. The
eggs, said he, "are bought from the
farmers at from nine 10 ten cents pei
dozen, and they are put into cold
storage. Before packing each egg IL
tested by placing it between the eye
and a candle. The good eggs are
laid on their ends in boxes, little
compartment being devoted to eact
egg. The temperature Of the colo
storage is about forty degrees Fahren
heit. and at this temperature the egg
will keep for months. There are mill
ions Of eggs sold as fresh which arr
many weeks old, and they are bough
when cheap and sold when dear. l
will surprise you to know that Their
are tub eggs, just as there are tub oys
ters. These are the eggs which ar
broken in packing. The dealers thro'
them into a bucket, the shells ar
picked out, and they are sold IN bulk
Many of the big hotels buy them, an
they use them for Omelets and scram
bled eggs. l usually eat my eggs
, the shells at hotels.
How about the great America
horse, Secretary Morton? 1t Is sal
: his days are numbered" "
, 81 fear that is true, replied tn
. / q fsTLa .1aot r,o cor nd m