The Charles Mix new era. (Wagner, Charles Mix County, S.D.) 1???-1911, 1908-04-24

nave va u Small loFIufie py CloppinE
up palm leaf fans and selling the stuff
at a dollar a packet containing a pinch
or two OF the precious dust-which was
said to be .the seed OF a rare exotic
flower. So writes w. G. FITZGERALD In
the Technical World Magazine.
He advertised widely. and numbered
professional florists among his victims.
True. he disclaimed responsibility for
the terminating power of his seed"
but this IL a common warning even on
the wares OF reputable seedsmen, so
that the buyers planted. watched and
watered with pathetic zeal until at
length an angry lady laid the swindler
by the heels.
Now farm and flower seed of ths
highest quality IS costly stuff. So min
ute Is that OF the ~calceolaria that the
actual cost OF producing the finest
strain exceeds ten times the weight Of
the seed in purest gold. Mignonetts
seed, too Ia by nc means cheap. yet that
Of the begonia IL at least sixty times
dearer and a liberal allowance for q
s. packet il measured in q tiny spoon
with an outside diameter Of three-six-
teenths OF an inch. And yet In that
small spoonful there will b enough
seed to produce more than 100 statsly
begonIa plants.
The writer goes on to describe the
careful testing seeds undergo at ths
hands OF the government inspectors
and an interesting series Of photo
graphs illustrates the text
Farming Old aaA New.
When the late Robert g. IngerSoll
was a farmer boy In Wisconsin the
farm was not the place 1t 10 now. He
has left u description Of early rural
life as he recalled II:
"They used to haul wheat twenty
miles In wagons and sell II for IS cents
a bushel. They would bring home
about 300 feet OF lumber. two punches
OF shingles, a barrel OF salt and . cook
stove that never would draw and never
did bake. In those blessed days the
people liyen on corn and bacon. They
had poor houses The rain held ths
roofs In perfect contempt. and the snow
drifted joyfulIy on the floors and beds
They had no barns. The horses were
kept In rail- pens surrounded with
straw. Long before spring the sides
would be eaten away and nothing
would be left but the roof. Every
thing was done In the hardest way.
Everything about the farm was disa-
greable. Nearly every farmers boy
took an oath that he would never cul-
tyate the soil. The ome they ar.
rived at the age Of q they left the des-
olate and dreary farms and rushed =
the towns and cities"
Those were the days before farming
was a scienca Now tho bright youth
intended for agriculture takes aI least
the short course at the university. He
learns things about soils and crops ana
the selection and are Of stock that the
old-tIme farmers never dreamed oG He
farms not BY the sweat Of hls brow.
but BY ths aid Of machinery. The fsrm
Ii equipped with commodiouo buildineA
and the farmhouse II comfortable
home, sometimes with prstenstono 70
architecture II has . tslsphons ana
II may b. heated with hot wataE. Thare
IL . rural delivery mail box not q,
from the front door, and god road n
cilitats the easy tranaportat1on q ~
product u ths farm 70 . not distant
railway station
The Western farmer g tp4day = ene
Of the mast prosperous And indaDoaAmt
| cftise1D o. the republic.
Wisconsin boys of thio G-onofattnn
should think twfcs bsforo thy 0anagt
tn farn-IThe Evening WloeeaGln