The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1900-07-04

Talncu every Gay save one. Inc crops
are in bad fix; the corn and cotton
are hidden by grass and weeds, and
labor is scarce, for the negroes are
wanted in the mines. Most of the
wheat has been cut, but how much Of
it will be saved cannot yet be told.
Within my recollection Of fifty years
/ do not recall so much rain in harvest
time. According to scripture, it seems
to be the same old story, for Solomon
say>, "As rain in harvest so is honor
unsccmly in IL fool. They had too
much rain and too many fools then
just as We do now. Maybe Providence
sends the rain to try the farmers to
make them diligent and shifty.
travelled on the East and West rail
road last week for sixty miles and
noted some farms that were clean and
nicc-thc corn and cotton chopped out
and the wheat shocked in the field;
one of these belonged to widow and
she and her three girls and one boy
we're just finishing the cotton Mark
ham didcnt write anything about the
woman with the hoe, nor the girls,
but one Of these girls was merry
enough to waive her bonnet at some
body on the train besides me. Some
farmers sit down and wait for to-mor-
row sun to dry off the ground; but
tomorrow 5 sun didcnt shine, and so
they wait till next day. Others slap
in every chance and do something; |
know one whc began to cut out his
wheat Monday morning just as soon
as Sunday.was gonc-for Sunday was
the day it did not rain lie cut half
that night and all day Monday and got
through with his thirty acres, and he
says he will make 700 bushels. An
other diligcnt farmer made 400 bushels
last year on twenty acres, and sowcd
it right away to cowpeas and sold his
pcavine hay for more perracrc than he
got for his wheat. That is business
and Solomon says, "Sccst thou
man diligent in his business; he shall
stand before kings" 1 am no braggart,
but let me say that if l had waited for
the rain to quit l would be singing
that old song, "a man Of words but
not Of deeds is like a garden full of
weeds" / worked between showers,
and sometimes when Mrs. Arp called
and called me to come in out of the
rain I pretended I dident hear her,
and struck few more licks for Mr..
Markham. wish you could see my
bean srbor--not butter beans, but :ho
best and most prolific bean I have eyer
planted. l had them last year on my
corn patch, but they do better on poles
or over cane arbor Plant two rows
Of beans five feet apart, and when
they are well up stick them with
canes. Lap the small ends of the
canes together on the ground, and get
your wife or daughters to tie them in
three or four places-all of uniform
length-then arch them over the
beans, and nature will do the rest.
never ,aw half as many beans as hang
from my vines. OF course, the rains
have stimulated the growth of every
thing, and its lucky that vegetables
grow upward instead Of outward. I
planted my potatoes in trench that
was shovelcd out and manurcd with
ashes-wood and coal mixed then
covered with pine straw and some
earth on that. They are the finest
ever grew, and come out of the straw
almost clean enough to cook without
washing. Pine straw is very valuable
in garden and is cheap, costing only
30 cents for good load. 1t is good
mulch for strawberries, and l am ex-
perimenting with it under few to-
mato plants; most Of them I have
trained up to stakes, but I saw mar
ket garden near Memphis and all the
tomato vines had tumbled over on
wheat straw, and made more fruit,
though not So large and fine as when
stcaked. a garden is a small expert
mental farm, and is of as much conse-
qucncc and more pleasure, especially
if you mix flowers with it. Don't
throw away your coal ashes; mixed
with wood ashes, they are fne ferti-
lizer. Mr.. Berckmans says that ashes
produce fruit, while stable manure
produces vine aud foliage. ashes viii
double the quantity Of strawberries.
Beets generally come up too thick.
e: Thin ii: them cut aua transplant, cut of
part Of the tops, and the transplants
will make the best beets. Just so
with celery. But I don't propose to
teach old gardeners, for some Of them