The Yale expositor., 1896-01-31
How One Farmer Succeeded.

"Well, Wallace, you seem to be pretty
1icely fixed here on farm which, when
[ left the country ten years ago, was
not considered worth much. You don't
mean to say that this nice house and all
there Is in it, and those two extra barns,
and all the numerous other improve
.nents grew out of an old rundown
farm, do you?"
Cant say that they exactly grew
out of it, Uncle John, but they were
dug out of it by hard work, coupled
with good management and thrift. AS
you say, the old place was all run
down, and many of my friends said l
was q fool to settle down on a western
New York farm in such shape as this
when l could go into the far west
and get hold Of a prairie farm which
woud be so much easier worked. But
Martha did not like to go very far
away from her old father and mother,
and besides, l thought that saw possi-
bllities here Of success, and so l re-
solved to try it.
The farm was encumbered with
n mortgage for one-third it's
price. took possession the
last of February, and after looking it
over pretty thoroughly, l staked Off
four acres, lying on sunny slope, and
prepared to devote this plat to market
gardening l went to the city and en-
gagged gardener, and with his aid put
the ground in tip-top shape with fertil-
i2ers, as soon as it could be done, and
started plants in cold frames and hot
beds that l might be on hand with the
earliest OF the early vegetables. You
should have heard some of the doleful
predictions of my friends and neigh
bors. My extravaganza at hiring q
gardener and paying him considerably
more than an ordinary farm hand could
be got for was only to be matched by
my folly in supposing that l could dis
pose of such an acreage Of green truck
il I succeeded in raising it. You see
market gardening was not carried on
then as much as it is now, and eight
miles from market was considered a
serious obstacle.
'To cut the story short, the first
season my garden paid my help and my
household expenses, put a new founda-
tion under my barn, and did some tile
draining. This left my hay, corn, po-
tato and such crops to be sold toward
reducing the mortgage. But oh, how L
worked that summer and the three or
four following! Every other morning
in the week l had to get up at o'clock
and start off to the city with load OF
green stuff and it would be noon before
| could dispose of it and get back.
Then, after good dinner and an hours
rest, I'd plunge into hard work again
and keep at it as long as l could see.
But l was young and strong as well as
ambitious. My wife was my best as
sistant, for no matter how hard a man
works outdoors, if the household mat
ters are not managed with thrift and
economy, he can't get ahead much. She
had q strong German girl to help her,
but Martha was at the helm, early and
late, to see that things were going right
with no waste. She was never lacking
in eXpedients and tact"
Il see," said Uncle John, admiringly,
you struck scientific track getting
out of the ruts that our fathers and
grandfathers logged along in"
You're right. Though l was brought
up on farm, didn't think myself so
wise that books and papers could not
teach me anything. In addition to two
good rural papers, l procured every
other help / could, and as you remarked
at the outset, have something to show
for book farming, combined with hard
work Now we're in circumstances to
take it easy and see something of the
world"
The writer's only excuse in prepar-
ing this sketch is that it is written from
life, and the farmer described is not yet
40 years old.-Helen l.. Manning in
Farmers Review.