Evening star., 1914-07-25
TAKING A FAMILY
BACK TO THE SOIL
Being the Experiences OF Gov
ernment Clerk Who Sets Out
to Lower the High Cost OF
Living.

-ror the first time since ] became a
farmer. I have had full week to
nevote to the business of agriculture.
anu with the help of Jim and Ned and
=-ill Jarvis I have made a showing OF
accomplishment in which I take a good
deal OF satisfaction. We have been up
with the sun each morning. and each
night we have been mighty glad to go
to bed when the sun went down.
I'd have gotten considerably more out
door work done had it not been for the
demands of my roll as chief cook and
bottle-washer. Inclusion of bottle
washer i'll the role is done advisedly.
for my plan of having the boys wash
the dishes didn't pan out worth a cent.
After having them on the job one day.
] concluded that it would save time
and temper to do the work myself.
The boys say l am a good ook-but
I'm not certain what Jane will say when
she gets back from her trip to Baltimore.
Six of her fryinS-siZe chickens have met
sudden deaths. carried off by malady
known as guillotintis. My defense will
have to be-if Jane discovers her loss
that it is quite useless to try to save a
IT iops a few times. and all is over
Frying chickens is not an especially diff
cult branch of the culinary art.
Lots of Garden "Sass.''
But fried chicken is not the only good
thing we have had to eat. The garden
is producing both variety and abundance.
We have been eating sweet corn for
some time, but. because of the raid the
COW made on the early paintings. it has
not been plentiful until the past few
days. Now We have all we can use and
some to sell. And righ; here enters one
of the peculiarities of country life. 1
haven't had to take corn to town to
sell it. My neighbors have gladly bought
all | had to spare. and clamored for
more. You would think people living in
the country and making their living
from the soil would grow all their own
vegetables but they don't. Some of the
people who are buying corn from me
are doing because they were late
getting theirs planted. but others don't
grow it at all. They haven't time. they
say. or it is too much bother. One man
who cut seventy-fve acres of wheat
and has more than a hundred in corn.
has nothing that resembles a kitchen
garden. He argues that his time and his
horses are more prohtably employed
with his main crops. and he always has
depended on buying vegetables of his
neishbors.
There is a market right out here in the
country also for tomatoes. beans and
othe- vegetables, and. more surprising to
me. for chickens and eggs. The wife of a
man who farms lao acres came TO our
could supply her with four dozen eggs a
week. She was willing TO pay city retail
prices. Her husband has herd of about
twenty-five dairy cows. shipping milk to
the city. ana they are both kept too busy
to fool with chickens. she expressed
II. Scarcely less amazing is the fact that
in our immediate neighborhood there is a
sufficient market for milk to justify one
man in sending delivery wagon over the
route twice day. A good deal of this
trade is from people situated as l am,
living on small places and earning their
livings in town. but ] know several men
who make business of farming who
either do not keep cows at all or have
milk only part of the time.
Tendency of the Times.
The situation seemed to me illogical
and an evidence of shiftlessness. Living
in the country l had imagined involved,
as a matter of course and as a first prin-
ciple of economics. the production at home
of every necessity possible to produce.
There was a time when this was true.
Farmers kept sheep and grew fax and
their woman folks spun and wove cloth
ing for the family. Wheat and corn were
carried to the nearest Srist mill and there
ground into flour and meal Shoes. at one
time. either were made at home or by a
neighborhood artisan. The making of
sorgum and maple sugar and soft soap
were other home industries. What could
not be produced on the farm rule,
the farm family did without.
But with the building up of the country
1t has been found more economical to buy
than to produce lot of the necessities of
life So l suppose there is no reason why
the thing should not be carried to point
where each farmer produces a main crop
and depends on others to supply most of
the things for his table. A clothing mer-
chant doesn't feel called upon to deal in
fish nor is professional man impelled to
be both doctor and lawyer. SO / reckon
there is no good reason why the owner of
farm must be both stockman and gar
dener.
Getting back to the subject of sweet
corn. il was responsible for my break
Ing promise to the boys. a thing 1 re-
GREETED exceedingly to do. Since we
mad our first mess of it Jim and Ned
have wanted to eat nothing else but
the supply was not very plentiful at
first. and, besides. they were not used
10 it, and l was afraid they would max e
themselves sick.
Promised to Take Off Limit.
But Thursday morning 1 told them
they could have for dinner as much as
they wanted. Both cut down on their
breakfasts. so as to have as much room
as possible for the corn feast at noon.
I cooked a lot. and the only restriction
was that they should eat some bread
and butter along with It. Talk about
your trenchermen, From the way the
boys went after that corn you might
have thought they had been fasting for
Il month ] became frightened. and
after Jim had disposed of eleven big
ears and Ned ten 1 called a halt
didn't know but I might be called upon
to answer a charge of manslaughter.
The boys looked reproachfully at me
and hungrily at the remaining corn,
but i realized 1 had made a rash
promise and there was nothing to do
but break it.
Our practice with corn has been to
boil 1t about ten minutes, but 1 have
learned a new way which i am going
to spring on Jane when she comes
home. reader of the Back to the
Soif' stories who lives in Northeast
Washington writes as follows:
AS to green corn, 1 want to tell E.
s. M that he will not enjoy it in all it's
perfection until Jane tries my way of
cooking 1t, which is to steam instead of
boil, as 1t loses much of its sweetness
in boiling. Fill the steamer with fresh
husked roasting ears and put it, closely
covered. over a kettle of boiling water
for about forty-flve minutes. Bring to
the table one or two sharp knives and
slit down each row of grains; butter.
salt and pepper. and eat it from the
cob-and you will never want it any
other way"
We tried the plan and found it a
very considerable improvement over
boiling, but I still think the chief
secret of having good. sweet corn is
to cook it as soon as Dossible after