The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1911-01-05
WHAT A WOMAN GAN.
DO IF SHE WILL
Makes Run-out Farm
Support Family
When Misfortune Came Her Thought
Was "Back 10 the Farm"

| am woman farmer. and while !
do not wish to be considered as
competitor for a mans honors, | will
tell you what woman can do IL she
Will.
Five years ago In November, In the
city of Chicago, my husband was
stricken with apoplexy; and |, with
two bables-two and three years of
age, faced the problem of supporting
the family. was endowed with an
unlimited supply of good health,
courage and enthusiasm.
As a girl was the only child OF a
farmer, being pas boy as well as
mas girl. | knew something about
everything on a high-class farm. SO,
when misfortune came, the only thing
| could think of was-"back to the
farm" | had a splendid social posi-
ton, and relatives who would gladly
have assisted me; but my New Eng
land blood boiled at the thought of
charity. | had a big house full of
furniture and plenty Of clothing. /
proceeded to the country and, after
hunt of two weeks, | located little
ten-acre farm two and One-half miles
from a town,-badly run down, full
of weeds and which had not had a
pound of fertilizer in years. 1t had
house with a good roof; and barn.
Web, | secured this for the sum of
SO a month. | took my lease for five
years; it was drawn December l,
/ 1906.
promptly sold of some of my fur
niture, piano and things | could do
without, and realized $500 in money.
paid my rent for the year In ad-
vance, $108. Then | bought three
tons of coal at $3.50 per ton, $3.50. |
also bought dressed hog of farmer.
at eight cents a pound, 225 pounds,
SIS. OF the same farmer | bought
fifteen bushels of potatoes, one and
one-half bushels In a bag. Thanks
giving day, 1906, we moved into the
little house and our first meal was
dinner--a decidedly informal one,
even for the country. | had laid In
supply of groceries from the city,
to the extent of $25. Moving from
the city cost me 500; as we came out
seventeen miles | thought 1t cheap.
Well, when we were all moved, | had
just $291.25 remaining
There was a dairy farm within q
quarter of mile of us, run on big
scale, and they were always short of
help. l was taken on as mixer at
So per week. | had to be there at
three o'clock in the morning and
MIXED my dozen COWS. was
through at six and could come home
until three O'Clock In the afternoon,
when | must put in another three
hours steady work. In that way
could DO my own work at home and
earn something at the same time; but
sometimes lay courage almost failed
me when it came to that walk at
three o'clock in the morning In the
bitter cold, and the road often un-
broken at that hour IL it had been
storming all night | would leave my
babies snug and warm and be home
before they knew | had gone. | work
ed from January l until May l, 1907,
and the $50 | earned / paid to a
neighboring farmer to haul manure
from the barns in town where | had
been told | could have it II | would
haul 1t.
| sent to the Agricultural Depart
ment and had my soil tested and re-
ceived some good advice; and then
had my ground plowed and worked
up. sent to Iowa for choice seed
corn, and planted five acres to 1t.
planted muskmelons between the hills
ih the rows.
How | did hoe and how my babies
pulled weeds but | never saw a
prettier piece of corn.
While | was at the dairy farm ]
bought a COW that was to freshen In
March; she was old but | paid $40 for
her When she came In her milk was
very poor qualty-thin and hardly
any cream. Her calf was a bull; |
kept him until he was six weeks old
and he brought me 81. AS her milk
was not of any use to make butter,
bought from the dairy two new
born heifer calves, at 81 each, from
two cows that | knew were cracker
jack mixers. | then bought a bag
of calf meal at 81, pair of SOW pigs
for SIS, eight sitting hens of neigh
Dor, and Barred Plymouth Rock eggs
from a breeder at So per setting of
fifteen.
| | raised sixty-nine chickens, of
which forty-one were pullets and
beauties When my cow began to
slacken up in milk flow about Christ
mas time, | fattened and sold her for
$40.
My corn was the finest for miles
around, and l sold 100 bushels for
seed at $1.25 per bushel; and | am
happy to say that | had yield OF
l112 bushels per acre-so | had feed
for my hogs and heifers as we'll as
chickens | sold two dozen ROSTERS
at broiling age, at Sc per dozen. My
muskmelons | sold to the local mar
ket at ninety cents bushel; the
yield was twenty-six bushels
can not recall an item of expense
that my hogs cost me. They, like
Topsy, simply "growed;" and when in
March of 1908 they together gave me
seventeen pigs, it seemed like clear
profit. | have always kept a set OF
books and can tell, even to postage
stamp and an egg, the extent of profit
and loss.
Last year we set two acres to
Strawberries, and planted cucumbers
between the hills; and then | made
canvas of my city friends and took
orders for fancy pickles and yege-
tables.
This summer we have built place
outside in which to do can
ming, and now have our place