The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-06-04

Perhaps it has never occurred to
the owner of time-honored home
stead that the old apple tree, in the
orchard lot, is a more economical and
continuous producer than he--has
been more successful financially,
showing a cleaner balance sheet than
the smudged one of his long life.
And yet the tree is sadly neglected.
No one bothers about her-it is rath-
er pleasing to think of the apple tree
as a dear, fine lady. This old apple
tree lady that am making the CEN
trial character of this article has new
er had over-growths manicured--the
pruning knife has never touched her.
Dead limbs have been allowed to
weight her down and disfgure her
until they decayed and dropped off,
but she never once neglected her du-
ty; kept on, year after year, bearing
excellent Baldwin apples.
Mrs. Baldwin is seldom noticed by
her owner. Once in decade he may
glance at her frowsy top, complex
mixture of dry, dead branches and
others very much alive, and humble
to himself, "That blamed old tree is
about gone" If visitor in his home,
one interested in orchards, calls at
tention to the vigorous tree, very
likely he would vouchsafe the infor-
nation that Mrs. Baldwin had been
set out by his great-grandfather. He
might be fair enough to add, "She
amt had no troubling about since
But for a century, or the greater
IL I'D ln t,rl,l
able Mrs. Baldwin has been at home
every minute, keeping the best house
she could, and never complaining at
the hard knocks. Once, after she was
seventy-five years old, she thought
she had received death stroke-Bill
Bentley hitched his hungry mule,
Tob, to her trunk for one whole Sun
day, and Tob gnawed off nearly all the
bark! But barring this severe in
jury, and the time that her master
carelessly felled a huge elm which
tore open forked limb on her left
side, she had managed to get on toll
erably, and keep up her quota Of ap-
pie production. Each spring she has
donned her new bonnet Of pink and
white flowers, and smiled and famed
nGISelI III llIe SOlt, wal IA NlllNo' NV
tie children have tied their rope or
grapevine swings to her boughs;
beautiful young girls have plucked
sprigs of flowers to entwine in their
hair. Then came the hard battle with
buzzing, singing flies and the cruel
boring worms, but somehow she got
through each year to the harvest,
No one ever gave her even a
thought of thanks; she has never been
dressed down-trimmed and sprayed.
No one ever gave her food-put fer
tilizer or fresh soil about her roots.
Since she started life in the Hamilton
orchard, four generations ago, as a
tiny sprout, which the first MIR. Ham,
ilton set out and topped with his
jack knife, not so much as one cen,
has been expended on her And YET
her honest yield has been comparable
with her masters.
Suppose we examine into the ac.
counts of Mr.. James Hamilton, farm
er, of Balls Pond, Connecticut, a scior
of the fourth generation of Hamiltons
and Mrs. Baldwin, apple tree, same
address, who has served the four gen.
erations of Hamiltons to the best OF
her ability-without pay.
james Hamilton w., aged 70, in
herited the estate in 1870, valued al
five thousand dollars. He had pre-
viously been improvident, and forth
with mortgaged the farm to pay hi:
debts-he would pay back the two
thousand dollars borrowed in couple
of seasons. He lived in that easy
do-it-tomorrow way, and never wor
ried about the mortgage. 1t was helt
by the local bank, and allowed to re.
main as long as the interest came If
regularly. And this has been going
on for fifty years-five per cent, OF
two thousand dollars, one hundred dol
lars a year-total interest for the
half century, five thousand dollars
The half-hearted savings never seem
ed to mount up sufficiently to pay of
the mortgage. By the prosperou!
war times, however, the annual left
over sums totalled eighteen hundred
dollars. But the big prices for farm
products excited Uncle Jim, and il
an unguarded moment when he saw
riches coming, he invested the eighteen
hundred in an automobile. Of course
at the end Of six months, the smar
car deprecated in value to the ex
tendt of nine hundred dollars--ant
the increased cost of living swep
away the dream of wealth. We viii
eliminate smaller items of Mr.. Ham
ilton's indiscretions. The recital o
his principal business deals shows hin
to have been poor manager--bu
the picture is not oyerdrawn; Their
are many Hamiltons like him. In tn
meantime, he earned his living on tn
farm, by working from three to fou
months a year-although the chick
ems and cows did help him to a con
siderable extent. Therefore, if he wer
called upon to make strict settlement
for his talents, on the above RECORD
he would be bankrupt. His condi
ton will be still worse as soon as h
smashes or wears out the automobile
Now, Mrs. Baldwin's account
more simple and straightforward. TIL
original investment was nothing
kindly disposed neighbor gave tn
young tree to Goodman Hamilton
The tiny lady tree grew up ip fiv
years, and began producing apples fo
her master. Nature endowed he
gradually with strong body, and sh
grew and grew until she attaine