Evening star., 1915-05-29
TAKING A FAMILY
BACK TO THE SOIL
Being the Experiences of a Gov
ernment Clerk Who Sets Out
to Lower the High Cost Of
Living.

What the country needs today is
some blazing hot weather. Already.
1t is agreed among farmers outS our
way. all the advantages of early plow-
ing and planting have been lost. and
unless some warm weather comes soon
crops will be farther behind than they
were last year. when little or no plow-
ing was done until after the first of
May.
Potatoes and peas have kept on
growing. as they can get along with
a minimum Of heat. but about everything
else has stood still and some things
have rotted in the ground.
The early coming Of spring. with
plowing in March and the bulk OF
planting done early in April. found
everybody happy and confident of an
| unusually successful season. There had
been plenty Of rain in the winter, put
ting lots of water in tho ground. and
every sign pointed to ono Of those rare
seasons Of superabundance, q year Of
fat and plenty.
Farmers Need the Breaks"
Base ball writer's, when tho home
team loses . game It apparently had
won. always wind up their explana-
tions and excuses by citing the inoi-
dent ~ showing the uncertainties Of
the game. Base ball is no moro un-
certain than farming. Unless you get
away to q good start this spring. ali
the breaks since have been against
the farmer. There was sufficient
moisture in the ground to germinate
the genial warmth of the sun soon
brought the tender young plants
through to light and air
The farmer then waited. hopefully
that were needed to niurish the young
plants until they had put out roots
reaching down to whore the winters
rainfall was stored. But the gentle
rains came not. The genial warmth
turned to scorching heat. and still 1t
didn't rain. His tender young plants.
many OF them. gasped like fish out Of
water: then curled up and died. The
fair promises of early April wore
blighted hopes before tho month was
done.
Cold Came With Rains.
In May came the rains that should
have fallen in April. But they were
cold rains, and the sun that shone be-
tween rains was not sufficiently ardent
to warm up the ground. Plants that
had escaped destruction in Aprirs
drought simply stood still during the
cold weeks of May, and seed with
which replantings had been made rot
ted in the ground. Only the bugs and
worms and other garden pests throve
| and multiplied under the conditions of
adverse weather.
A ddfeful story, isn't 1t? Sounds as IL
all Of us. city folk and country folk
| alike, might starve before the summer
| is over. But it really isn't that bad.
Because 1t always has done SO. we rea-
| sonably may assume that it will warm
up this year in time for the growing
| Of crops, and while the harvest proba-
| bly, will not be the superabundant one
anticipated in the spring. 1t is likely to
| be average In India and China. even
in civilized CD Europe. crops some
| times fail completely and famine claims
| its thousands and tens OF thousands;
| but, for some reason or another. In the
U. g. A. nature always manages to
bring forth a sufficiency of food.
| Even as 1t Is. the season is not with
| out its compensations. Pasture is bet
| ter and more abundant than 1t has been
for years. and dairy farmers hereabout
| are happy. They are able now to cut
their feed bills to the minimum and the
| crop of hay promises to be abundant.
| To us, with one COW, this condition is
| relatively as important as 1t is to the
dairyman who has forty.
Fruit Outlook Is Good.
Another promising outlook is with re-
spect to fruit. It is going to be abun-
dant and therefore cheap. This means
q lot to Jane and her business of put
ting up jellies and preserves for mar
ket. She already has ordered Quanti-
ties of cans and Jars and plans to put
up two or three times a. large a pack
as she had last year. Her. cousin in
Baltimore has changed her mind about
| trU mt VUff
Jane on a profit sharing basis. but that
isn't going to interfere with the vol
ume Of business. Jane merely will hire
what help she needs and as she needs
lit. and she probably will do better
financially than she would by sharing