The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-07-17


vorite Of his grandmother, who seemed
to think that he knew more than did.
Jim went away, and supposed he
was goin' to do as l told him-hire out
| for a farm hand.
Meantime while he was gone l
wasn't gettin' along very well with the
farm. l reckoned the land had been
worked out and required to be ferti-
lized. l didn't have the money to do
the job as it ought to be done, and |
thought that If didn't spend lot on
1t I'd lose what put into it, so didn't
do anything. l tried to raise such
crops as didn't need much fertilizer,
but didn't get much of a return
"Jim was away four years, and all the
while / was runnin' down financially
He used to write home once In awhile
but he didn't tell us what he was dom
But Jim was never good hand at ex
plainin' things I've thought since that
II when he was boy he'd have told
me somep'n about what he was drivin'
at I'd have had more patience with him.
"The only thing Jim did tell us, and
he wrote that to his mother the last
year he was away, was that he'd got
sweetheart. He said she was the pur-
test gal in the world and the best.
When his mother told me about it
said reckoned Jim would have hard
time takin' care of wife, especially If
he was goin' to do things his own way
and never take any advice from any
body.
"Well, when had got so low tinan-
cially that had to put a mortgage on
my farm Jim come home. He said he'd
been to an agricultural college and had
come home to help me out.
Father he said, you and all the
rest of the old fashioned farmers have
been laundering along for ages. The
earth and everything in 1t is big
laboratory, and there's nothing that
isn't subject to the laws of science. Do
you remember when you told me to-
trim the apple tree and cut off the
lower branches? Well, 1t occurred to
me that that tree was a mighty big
climb for the sap; that by the time it
got to the top it must be tired out, and
that what apples it produced would be
small and few. Besides, 1t would cost
more to gather apples grown as high
as that than they'd be worth when you
got 'em down
"'And do you remember the ground
put the chemicals in? Well that was
failure, but when a boy Of fourteen
begins experimenting he's not likely to
succeed without lot of failures. Some
times a grown educated scientist will
work for years over problem and fail
in the end -
When you tired Of me and grand, !,
mother left me the legacy determined
to use 1t to learn what there was
known about scientific agriculture. |
don't claim to have learned any more /
than is known by others, but I've learn !
ed that and its a good foundation on
which to learn more. I'm not going to |
do much experimenting on my own |
hook till ! have put you on a better
basis in your efforts to make money /
out Of the farm
And | must tell you further that I
there's business In farming as well as
anything else My vacations I've spent
clerking in a produce store in big
city. There I've learned certain of some
middlemenS methods. I've seen some
thing of how he squeeZes the consum-
err on the one hand and the farmer on
the other. don't want to squeeze
either myself. but the more man
knows about squeezing the less likely
he Is to get squeezed.
Now, dad, I'll tell you what we
must do. We must take advantage of
our opportunities such as they are
and turn away from what are not op.
portunities, no matter how attractive
they look. We've got a market handy
for such produce as is used on the ia
bles of any and every body. Wen go
into table vegetables on a small scale
at first, and if we find it pays we'll
increase the scale. AS soon as we can
work 1t we'll open store for the sale
OF our own produce and make the
whole profit ourselves. But we can't
> too fast; must feel our way and
sniff our plans as we run UP against
stone walls"
The farmer paused in his narrative,
east a glance over his broad beds of
garden truck and concluded:
There's the result of Jims work.
Tie didn't do any experimental till
he'd got the business we'll goin'.
call 1t the business because business
Is part and very important part of
farmin'
I've said that Jim didn't do any ex-
perimentin, so he didn't in the regular
line of the work on the farm, but he's
been dom it all the while in a small
way, and he's found out some things
already
mat mortgage l told you of was
paid on in two years. and now there's
plenty over for all.
Jim married his sweetheart and they
i've In the cottage down yonder. This
little jim putting his hand on the
boy 8 head-"is chip off the old block: