The National tribune., 1895-05-30
BARRELS OF MONEY.
John Chinaman Digs it Out of Our
Stony Soil.

It Is seldom that an unconverted Chinaman
In this part of the country exercises his talent
or energy in any other occupation than that OF
laundryman.
But does anybody suppose that Chinaman
wouldn't make as good a mechanic as the ordi-
nary Caucasian Certainly there are stories
innumerable which illustrate the remarkable
mechan ical skill, the ingenuity, the patience,
and the manual dexterty of the much-abuse
Celestial. The fact is, however, that, in this
part of the country at least, the Chinaman
wisely refrsins from competition with the eau
casian, and he engages as a rule, only IN that
occupation which has made him SO familiar
and yet so remote feature Of our daily lie.
But there can be no manner of doubt that an
intelligent Chinaman can he success ID almost
any line of industry, even in the farming line;
and. il NAV be added, especially in the farming
line For here under our very noses, as it were,
while everybody is talking about the difficulty
OF digging money ont of New England soil,
that soil which vexed our forefathers so much
that they never tired Of talking against it, some
Cinnamon have taken lot of land over near
Winter Hill, on the road to Winchester, and
have turned veritRble farmers on new and
original plan, and are making barrel of money.
Everybody knows that the Chinaman in this
part Of the country preserves unaltered the
manners and the dress of his native land, and
adheres not only to the custom OF his country
men in the manner Of his eating but 10 the
taste which governed his selection of food in
the old country. De positively viii not con-
sumo the materials which make an American
dinner but insists on having his own kinds of
vegetables and his own choice combinations
thereof. Now, obviously, frugal Mongoian
cannot afford to send to China for his dinner,
at least lot until he has kept a laundry here a
few months. And since be will not eat Ameri-
can dishes, he must raise here the foods which
he wants
About 10 years ago a wide-awake Chinaman
around here discovered the interesting fact that
good Chinese farmer. grower of Chinese
vegetables and fruits, could find welcome aud
extensive market for his wares. Accordingly
this enterprising traveller from the klowery
Kingdom, whom his Caucasian neighbors called
Fang Lee, probably because that was not his
NAME leased about three acres of land out near
Winter Hill, Mass. and began to grow the veg
etables and fruit which are grateful to the tooth
of his olve-hued countrymen.
Fang Lee was not a farmer That is to say,
he had never studied the art and science of
making things grow out of the ground. But
be was more than farmer; he was philoso-
pher, and a man of resources, and an observer
of the wisdom of other men.
Then, as now, there was big Chinese farm
at Long Island. in the bosstful State OF New
York, and thither Fang Lee directed his foot
steps. He studied there enough of farming TO
start his venture here, and from time to time,
as he needed more information, he ran over 10
Long Island and talked with his learned breth-
rem of the plowshare and the pruning hook.
After while Fang Lee became very knowing
farmer. and although he developed no original
ideas in irrigation or subsoi treatment of
plants, it was universally conceded that his
melons and his cucumbers, his beans and his
cabbages were not To be surpassed in juiciDess
and other joy-conferring properties by the pro-
ducts Of the richest farms in China.
So Fang Lee thrived and waxed wealthy,
and when he had been in business three or four
years he found it oDveuient TO take vacation
trip to the old country, and every year there
after, when the cold weather has come on, he
has gone over to China to keep warm while
counting his money.
Before Fang Lee started to become farmer
be was laundryman on Chester Park. The
use OF the past tense in speaking of his first oc-
cupatiOn must not be understood to imply that
he ever relinQuished the business in which he
laid the foundation Of his growing fortune. As
matter of fact he still retains a proprietary
interest in this store, but his real intellectual
energy he gives to his farm.
There is nothing proud about Fang Lee, so
Tar, at least, AS any assumption of wealth ia his
dress or in the appearance of his habitation on
his farm may indicate pride. When he moved
on the property which he has cultivated for 10
years, be built little shanty in which he aud
his wofkmen might dwell, and rough little
shed to accommodate a horse, il the horse
wasn't large or OF roaming disposition. Those
structures still stand, striking commentaries
on the simplicity Of Chinese builders taste
in architecture and the extravaganza of a Cau-
easans.
On the property which he leases is an i'm
mense pansy park, and his on Y dwelling neigh
Dor is blacksmith named Doris, who is very