The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-25
THE FARM AND THE GARDEN.
MATTERS OF INTEREST TO AGRI-
CULTURIsT AND HOUSEWIFE.

EvenIngs-GOOd ResOIutiOns-sheI-
tering Farm Animals From Win
ter Coda valuable Tropical
Plant.
Week by week the splendid weather has
been measured out 10 us with unstintea
land until another Chr g mas is marked
off from The calendar of years. How time
flies! II seems but month or two since
we were plowing and p ant ng The main
crops Of 80. and now the harvests are al
made and garnered. In a few weeks we
will begin over again the plow ngs and the
sowfngs,
In few days and 1899 will be numbered
with the past. Historically it is a great
year Many events of great in crest and
significance will he recorded in ts pages.
To many it was year of toll and unreal
lied 10. es, as many precedir years may
have besn, but there are very few who
have net cause for grateful acknowledge
ment OF what it brought. However bad It
may have seemed to some 1t must be re-
membered it could have been much wo Sc
We may not have Teaped as we have hop
I'd, but it was not altogether barren.
May not 1883 have b en- rich in exp ri
enee that may lead us on to far better re-
suits in the coming year. Life is spared
the capacity to work is stin vouchsafed
US. No man need be really unhappy who
is able and willing TO work. But we must
be able to find genuine pleasure in that
work. Woe unto him who is a drudge 10
his life work. If his work drives him he
is slave simply
in the honest work of the farm and the
garden there is much balm for the ordi-
nary cares and troubles of life. man
had better labor without pay at all than
rot TO labor Idleness is the great
promoter of misery
The man who tbs the earth, whether as
a farmer or gardener or fIuit grower or
what not, is never without mot interest
ing employment for brain and muscle. At
this season of the year he may, without
reproach, devote a week or two 10 rcst
and recuperation. This rest in al p o a
bility. is well earned. If he has labored
well he is fairly entitled to rest awh le A
few days win suffice. Idieness hangs heav-
lily on the true worker. Work and 'ay are
terms of varying import. There is work
In pay, ana there is play in work
The world is to be the Inheritance of the
men and women who find play in their
work, who love work for works sake
But the body and the brain both are
benefited by mcdicum of play, of rest
and there is no moe opportune time for
indulging 1t than the merry Chr stmas
time.
INDUCED as it should be it viii bring no
reproach, and when we take UP again the
thread of our respective work, it will make
labor enjoyable rather than tiresome.
Farmers can indulge themselves in
good resolutions" the new year. as well
as anybody else. One or two well made
and well kept, will suffice for the average
farmer however.
Is it not very good one to cay: ERE
solved, That we will diversity a little more
the coming year than we did the last"
There are many farmers stiH, who nave
nothing In mind for the new year beyond
cotton, corn, some sweet potatoes and a
few peas. Raised ia due proportion and
with good yields per acre, it is quite true
these constitute a very excellent quartette
of farm products that can keep the farm
agoing ina way, but they do not afford
that variety of diet that should charac-
terize the farmers existence. 1t is per-
haps about the best that the tenant far
mer may average up to, but 1t is greatly
lacking for the man who farms his own
fields and realizes that he is fixed for life
and not likely to change profession. Peas,
potatoes and cornbread are all wen enough
as far as they go towards providing food
for the farmer and his family but it is a
poor farmer and poor in more ways than
one, that is willing to restrict a family
to such a simple variety Of food as these
represent.
If there Is anybody that should live
we'll" that should have a good table, the
year round. is it not the farmer? He may
not raise the more delicate luxures of the
table, but the more substantial articles of
food should be his in all necessary abund-
ance far beyond what the average pro-
fessional men Of the towns and cities can
afford
There is nothing fanciful or theoretical
in picturing even the small farmers ia
bic abundautly supplied with the various
breads, made from corn, wheat nnd rye
of his own raising likewise with beef and
pork and mutton and chickens and eggs
and milk and butter; with syrup and rice,
and in season, vegetables of many kinds
without stint.
All of these things to be sure, will not
grow of themselves. but there is no deny
ing they can be had with comparatively
little effort Compared to the Northern
farmer. the Southern farmer should live
like a king off his own land, Good
seeds and little work TO keep the weeds
down" is the requirement tersely express
ed for securing most of these things.
There is some intelligent energy demanded
for having others of them. But they are
all within easy reach of every farmer of
fair intelligence, and good health in all
this Southern country, superiatively
blessed of God as few other countries nre.
A good resolution therefore for us ALL is
let us make better use of our opportunl-
ties than we ever have before
Essace.