Evening star., 1915-08-14
TAKING A FAMILY
BACK TO THB SOIL
Being the Experiences Of a Gov
ernment Clerk Who Sets Out
to Lower the High Cost OF
Living.


invention, and it is equally true that
adversely is an excellent schoolmaster
Man first devised shoes to protect his
feet because he stubbed his toes. Most
of the progress of the world since Is
due to the fact that he has kept on
stubbing his toes, and has continued
to profit therefrom.
That's what we are striving to do
at sunny Knoll. Every time things go
wrong. either through our own care
lessness or ignorance or through ad-
versities of nature, We make an ef-
fort to convert it into a profitable
lesson. There has been, it seems to
us. plenty of opportunity for such les
sons during the past year. We may not
we certainly have learned a lot of
J things we would not have learned ex-
cept for the hard luck.
Some of the lessons, however. have
been so expensive that it is rather dlf-
fcult to class them as benefits. Burn
ing of the barn, for instance, has given
I me wisdom on the subject of curing
I hay. but it, does seem that 1 might
! have learned to cure hay by some less
expensive method. 1 am satisfied now
that the fire was due to the fact that
the oat hay was improperly cured.
that the hay would not have been fit
to feed, even if it had not set the barn
on fire, and it might have killed the
cows Never again will hay go into
my barn so long as there remains the
slightest doubt as to it's curing.
Lessons From the Storm.
We have learned several things as
the result of the severe storm early
last week. which made the garden look
like wreck. Since then the wrecking
crew has been at work, and the amount
of salvage is astonishing. When
went out the morning after the storm
and found some of my prize canta-
loupes had been washed out of their
hills and carried forty or fifty feet l
felt almost as bad as l did over the
burning of the barn. These particular
cantaloupes were my special joy and
pride. J had nursed them and coddled
them and was looking forward to eat
ing cantaloupes such as man never
ate before. l had pinched back until
there averaged not more than half a
dozen fruits to the hill, and some Of
them were almost full grown.
i bade them goodbye and was pre-
pared to accept the loss with what
eauanimity I could. When 1 got home
that night Lee Custis had them all
back in their original hills, covered with
newspapers to protect them from the
direct rays of the sun. For several days
he covered them up every morning and
removed the newspapers at night. One
are alive and apparently thriving as
we'll as if they never had been disturbed.
Lee went straight through the gar
den Strengthening up and saving stuff
that appeared to be utterly ruined.
Sweet corn that was fla ton the ground
and torn out almost by the roots has
been Strengthened up and is growing.
Pole limas, all blown down, are as good
f0r fayx S1I,
were broken. Even tomatoes, which
seemed more hopelessly damaged than
almost anything else, probably will give
half a crop.
Boys Doctoring Popcorn.
Jim and Ned have gone through their
popcorn patch with the Strengthening
up process. Dozens of stalks which re-
fused. despite all their efforts, to stand
alone. they have supported by driving
pieces Of lath alongside and tying with
string. We have done what we could
with broken fruit trees. but here the
processes of nature are slower and only
time can tell how successful our efforts
will be.
Even with the field corn the damage
Is not SO great as / feared it was 1t
was not possible. of course. to give it
such careful first aid treatment as
the garden stuff received, but we did
the best we could, and the loss is not
likely to be higher than 10 or Is per
cent. In view of the threatened scare
ity of feed the coming winter. it is very
gratifying to know the bulk of the
fodder will be saved
/ have a chance to replace in part my
lost hay, if ever it stops raining long
enough SO that it may be cut and cured.
For $40 L bought the privilege of cut
ting hay on about five acres of land
owned by man who has given up
farming, and is going back to town. 1t
Jacks a lot of being f1rst-class hay, but
the five acres ought to yield at least
seven tons of passable COW feed. There
wouldn't be any use in cutting it,
though, while there are daily rains.
Last year at this time, when things
were burning up from drought it would
have been difficult to make me believe
any August was likely to see too much
rain, but we certainly are having
superab bundance right now. Aside from
inability to make hay, 1 don't know
that ! am suffering any from excessive
moisture. though the time is coming
soon when corn will need a spell of dry
weather for maturing
Wheat Sprouting in Shocks.
Many of my neighbors are not so for
tunate. There are in our neighborhood
thousands of bushels of wheat waiting
to be thrashed, and which cannot be
thrashed while the rains continue. A
lot of it is sprouting in the shock and
the grain will be a complete loss
Dairymen are about the only farmers
who are not complaining of too much
rain. This has been one of the best
summers on record for pasture, and
there is so much water In the ground
that good fall pasture now is assured.
That means lot to the dairyman.
Last year, during July and August he
had to foot a big feed bill because his
pastures were burned up. Even when
the rains did come later on, so much
of the grass had been killed out by the
prolonged drought that the fall pasture
was thin and poor.
] think j picked up bargain the
other day when I got chance to buy
three thousand feet of lumber at SIS
thousand. 1t is just the sort of lum-
Der i wanted to build shed to shelter
the horse and cows. pending building
of a new barn. We are building the
framework Of poles cut from our own
woods and will roof it with patent
roohng paper. Including labor, it is
not going to cost me more than SlOo,
and it will be a permanent improve
Inent There will be no trouble finding
use for ii after the new barn is built
Ut could be used as shed for tools
but | am not certain I will not utilize
1t permanently as a COW barn. Also il
is close enough to the house to be used
as coal and wood shed and a general
storage place for the miscellaneous as
sortment of stuff that is forever COL
1ecting around a farm.