Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1941-12-04
A Farmers Problems

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Tom Whelan looked quizzicaly at cloudless sky
and remarked Mamma, we'll get rain today"
Mamma" is the pet name for Toms wife, To-
gether they have titled the soil of Maryland farm
for over twenty years. Tom is Sc and Mamma" 49,
Together they still work the sandy loan OF the
place they call home. 1t is not theirs for keepsthey
only have share-croppers nterest-yet it is home
The fact that it wasn't going to rain worried Tom
Whean He had just finished planting his allotment
Of wheat About 10 acres, if that Government man
measured it right" he said. He had trouble with the
Government man" this year.
Game in here and fined me $126.55 for planting
too much wheat" Tom said II didn't know anything
about it. Never belonged to any Government plan not
to grow wheat but they said voted for it. Never
voted at all. Didn't know had to vote to raise wheat
Been raising it for twenty years Man claimed had
ID acres too much. Amounted to 258 bushels he said
Cost me 40 cents bushel too. Well, got the right
amount now, hope Maybe next year they'll tell me
something different"
are married and away and one is with them yet
Blond, nineteen, chubby, Florence left school at H.
knows all the angles s Of drtarmng and is called
farm, knows how to repair machinery ride the binder
milk, isn't interested in men and says she'll never get
married. "Ginny" hasn't missed Sunday school for
IA years and proudly her IA service bars when
ever she goes calling or to town.
Splitting the kitchen wood is "Ginnys" and
Mammals" job, and evidence to the fact that they do
it well is pile of seasoned stoveength wood stacked
ten feet high in the back yard Racked and ready for
and also only short distance from the back door
abundant supply of chunks for the air tight stove
in the living room.
Its about time we got our winter wood in" Tom
unused Il never cut wood in the summer; it's too
dadblamed hot"
So the Whelans will soon be cutting winter wood.
And they'll need lot of it too. Their 2OO-year-od
Engishtype cottage has modern conveniences.
Loosely hung hand-hewn DOORS deepsied windows and
shinged roof will let in plenty of cold air.
"The kitchen is the coolest place here" Mamma"
said Il have to break the ice to make coffee cold
winter morning"
Water comes from well out in the yard. Low
gabled the house has an air of antiquity and quaint
Mamma" calls the ''undertakers room" Located at
the north end this chamber is only used when the
Grim Reaper strikes Here the dead laid out" and
mourners gather for final tribute It is seldom used
for any other purpose The living room contains the
only touch OF modernity gas refrigerator while in
darkened corner stands fOOt-pedal organ muted in
antiquity, book of psalms the music rack No one
plays the organ at the Whelans
Early to bed and early to rise constitutes daily
routine for the Wheans whose chores start before day
break.
Don't have to get up till almost five o'clock now"
he boasts. Have the hay all in corn out and wheat
planted Not much to do before five now"
Tom, his wife and "Ginny" did all the cropping
themselves this summer. Help scarce because the
draft took lot OF the boys; many are working de-
Tense protects others want too much money for farm
work More than can pay" Tom says.
Besides seasonal work, the Whelans care for five
horses, ten pigs-fve are butchering hogs and five
shoats six head of cattle. They ship cream to
weeks. Il wouldn't ship milk for anything in the
world" Tom says. too much red tape" He has made
pet OF his Jersey bull and claims hes just like a
dog" But Tom keeps his bull from being too nqus-
tive by attaching pow share to the twentyf
chain which is reluctantly dragged wherever the bull
moves.
A flock of chickens provide fresh meat and eggs
while in the carefully guarded and locked meathouse
(sti pungent with hickory smoke) hangs side-meat,
shoulders, and hams. Enough for this year and part
of next, so Tom says In a handdug cellar under the
house is stored more than ve-hundred quarts of vege
tables, fruits and pickles which Mamma" canned in
her spare moments
Tom Whelan and his women-folk are God-fearing
They go to church each Sunday. Tom helps "snk the
graves" in the little cemetery next his farm. He
works hard and long and late. He's perplexed about
the Government man." His wheat is planted, and the
corn is in the shock He wonders if it will rain.
An English visitor says the only thing he doesn't
like about America is the lack of old ruins We have
em, old top, have EN- But you can't tell them
after they get their paint and powder on-Pathfnder