RY ^ i?>ie LONG ISLAND I^AILRO AD COMPANY'S ?EJ5IMfcNTAL^'i4jrfONS NUIVIBEJ^^ pI>JE ANQ# '*:i|Dfacf auD plenty" The Lure of the Land (THIRD EDITION) The History of a INIarket-Ciardou ami Dairy Plot developed within eight months ui)on Long Island's Idle Territory, long designated as "Scrub Oak Waste," and "Pine Barrens" Being a true story of the work carried on by the Long Island Railroad Co. at Experimental Stations Numbers One and Two, to which in the Second P^dition was added the Aftermath, bringing the story from September, Nineteen Five, to September, Nineteen Nine (> .-r^ By EDITH LORING FULLERTON Author of "How to Make a Vegetable Garden ' Editor of "The Long Island Agronomist" Published l)y Long Island Railroad Company Long Island, New York 1911 V^ ^53- CopyriKliI, ll»(tti-l'JOi>-l!)ii I.OIIK Isliinil Itailroail (^inipiiiiy Cur FE'-- Enurnvril iinil I'niilnl liy llolirri L. StillsKti Coiiipnny Hi-l.iOCi-nlrp Street .\i»- Y..rk Preface to Second Edition THE large first edition of the "Lure of the Land" has been exhausted for some time. As requests for the book come with nearly every mail, the manage- ment of the railroad has decided to issue another edition. There have been no changes in the book beyond the correction of typographical errors, obscure points made more definite, and the addition of one chapter entitled "After- math," which tells of the further success of the Long Island Railroad Company's Experimental Station No. 1, and a brief outline of the development and equally great success of its Experimental Station No. 2. I wish here to thank the many people from many climes who have written me such delightful letters of appreciation, and to those whom the "Lure of the Land" really lured to Long Island, I wish God Speed. Edith Loring FuUerton. October 24th, 1909. "Prosperity Farm" Long Island Railroad Company's Experimental Station, No. 2 Medford, Long Island P. S. (A Woman's Acknowledged Privilege). I cannot resist adding a word regarding this reprint of the second edition which has been made necessary by continued requests. The buildings referred to in the final pages are now completed and the plans have become a reality. A hearty welcome awaits all who care to come and see us. Summer, Nineteen Eleven. E. L. F. AKiilfii: iU iiitriiKi-ii luMluli-tl riMiU uml liiif!»{iiix miII tn rnniiili our liriKlilMin ImrlrrinI iiinriilaliiili "Scrub Oak Waste," the raw material, 1905 Foreword WHEN Mr. Ralph Peters became President of the Long Island Railroad, his inspection tours of the Island showed him much to be done, and most forcil)ly was brought before him the fact that the vast acreage of idle land, especially in Suti'olk County (the easterly half of the Island) must be developed for its own sake and for that of its railroad. Many thrifty produce farms, dotted here and there in the midst of this wilderness, together with the vast quantity and high quality of vegetables and fruit grown in the section, .showed plainly that the land now lying idle, much of it untaxetl because it had been burned over so often, could be developed into market gardens, fruit orchards, vineyards and dairies. As "the proof of the pudding is in the eating," and as practical demonstration is vastly superior to written statements, the President determined to establish Experimental Stations at various points on the Island and give to the public the results of the work; the object being to prove that the unde- veloped territory of Long Island, for years designated as "Scrub Oak Waste" or "Pine Barrens" was maligned, and would, when given the opportunity, protluce good crops of high quality. The work of this development was given into Mr. Fullerton's hands, and I, being favored beyond most women, have been his "full partner" in the inten.sely interesting and valuable work. It has included the daily records of not only ordinary farm operations, but details of victory or defeat in the fight with injurious insects and di.sea.ses, the quantity of crops gathered, their packing and shipping; the growing of all valuable vegetables native to the temperate zone, as well as many from China, Japan and the Southern States, never before grown in this latitude; the receiving and entertaining of many tlistinguished "Foreign" guests as well as the Island neighbors and workers, investigators and experts in the tilling of the soil. It includes a daily weather report, made with tested Ciovernment thermometers and rain gauge, and conducted under Government regulations; together with the photographic record of every step of the work. These records have at all times been open to the public and have been inspected by eminent agriculturists in both National and State employ, editors of many agrii-ultural periodicals, besides laymen in various callings. Tlic frcqiHMit criticism of the Farm hns Iwon tliiil ;i iiian of Miiall iiifaris could not m> and do lik«'- \*iM-. 'J'lial is an unfair and unjusl lu'd in out- y«'ar what a man iiia.v lake M'vcral in tloin^; liu-n- is nothing; from tin- simple livc-roomi-d porlahlc house to the ;j.000 jiallon tank tliat a man in moilerate cinumstanies cannot have, and if liis means warrant lie may have nnich more than the Kxperimental Station possesses. In proving that this land could raise iiHU varieties of plant growth, the income from crops was materially cut down hecause this meant small plots of a variety. It has |)aid Long Island in giving it an agricultural impetus already heneKeial. It will show a man who is launching in this new Itusiiiess just how much produce of each certain type was raised on a given space; it has |)aved the way for him, made some of his mistakes for him against which he will guard, and given him the encouragement the l>egimier sorely needs, (iiviiig to the i)ul>lic these proofs of the land's fertility in two County Fairs ha- materially reduced the Farm's income, for the greater ])art of the force was for three weeks taki-n from regular operations that the showing might be as com|tIele and attractive as |)ossil>le. It has Ix-en .said, "Oh, of course the Railroad hauls everything free of charge for its own Farm. How can you tell what it would cost an outsider.^" The Farm has paid freight and i-xpress on all it- products, Itoth to and from the Farm and knows just what it would cost another man to do the .same tiling. It has lived the "simple life" as far as was possihie with the educational work it was created to accomplish. All supplies were as cheap as true economy would |)irinit. for iintliing is cheap that diH's nut we.-ir well. In liricf, the l""ariii stamls to-day on its first hirtliday where many men would place it in tei years or even a lifetime. 'J'hat others may do likewise, or even exceed the results in the same hriet s|)aif of tiiiH-, goes without saying; that is simply a matter of personal equation. "I'l'iicf niid I'lfiity" l.<>i)K IsIiiikI Kiiilroad Cu.'.h K\|M'niiicii(al Slalioa No. 1 Wiiiiing River, Ix>ng Isliiml KDITII LORING FULLERTOX SepUiiil.or 7tli, 1!)00 The "Junior Partner" blowing stumps by battery Selection and Clearing EARLY in August, 1905, the following message came from Mr. Peters: "Find the worst 10 acres on the North Shore upon which to establish Experimental Station No. 1." "Why does he want the worst piece?" I at once asked. "Because he don't want everyone to say, 'O, well, you have known the Island for years and of course you could pick up the very best piece there was anywhere.' " "I see — and how are you going to prove to the dear public that it was the worst piece after we get through with it?" "O, I have a little scheme up my sleeve," replied the Senior Partner, and I was fully satisfied, for little schemes up his sleeve always grow larger as they come down and positively burst as they drop out. We traveled the " Mountain Division," as the North Shore branch is lovingly termed, for many days. Our project seemed doomed, for no one would sell a paltry ten acres; talk about hundreds or thousands or whole farms and they might listen (but now that i^ all changed). Finally two plots were located, one at Rocky Point of the desired area, and one at Wading River of 18 acres. Rocky Point had some very fine standing trees, while the Wading River plot was a slice out of the most desolate burned over "waste" mind can picture. Scarcely a live standing tree except along the northern boundary and the northeast corner, and these were scarred and charred second and third growth oak and chestnut. Photographs were taken of both plots and submitted to the President. We told him that the native Long Islanders assured us that the Wading River plot was the "no goodest" piece of land to be found. "How much soil will we find?" we had queried, and they replied: "Well, if you find six inches you'll be doing well. Besides that it's cold and it's sour." On August 19 word came that the Wading River plot had been purchased, and on the 23rd the preliminaries had been settled and we could start work at once. O, days of our Forefathers! Start work in the wilderness a mile and a half from a drink of water and as good as a thousand miles from anything else. But there is no greater joy on earth than rnaking something out of nothing and no keener joy to the masculine partner than to be allowed the privilege of demonstrating that the so-called "waste lands" of the Island he so dearly loves are productive. Next came conferences in regard to clearing. One thing was certain, the money expended was as far as possible to be placed in the hands of Long Islanders. Second, the method of clearing must be the most rapid possible, for Fall was coming fast and crops must be produced the following Summer. It was not our purpose to cut off the trees and brush and allow the stumps to remain six years to rot; nor was it our purpose to attempt to raise partial crops in the stump land, tearing the life and heart out of man, beast and harness, and profiting but little. Thirdly, as the scheme of "ten acres is enough" for a market garden, what should be done with the remaining eight? "Make it into an experimental dairy and prove that this land is capable of producing forage just as well to-day as it did a hundred years ago." Bv lliis tiiiu- Aii^iixt l'"«'<'"'tl•mlM«^ 1 >. slartrd out friiiii mir luuiu- loun. Ilimllii^'tini, willi llic rdicinil aiiil.l I"- fim to ^o «illi ii> aii.l miiI vnohI In his .•m|)h>>«r that he wuiihl iiol In- home iliat ilav. (This w«- h-arii<;hl»ors). W'v wrrv ariind with an a\, liu>h scythe, w hrtstonc. suathc and. last liiil not h-asl, tin- lutiiii haskct. \V«* rtrrivol at the scrnc of drsolatiou aliout luid-niorninj;. Frank was started to work in tin- northwest eorni-r. while we went al>out auionj; tlie >;ood trees, lyiiij,' white ra>;s on tl nes to lie s|)ared the wiMMlnian's a\. It was evident the house plot must l>e at llie northeast corner, for we hold lirruly to tli«- helief that in cieariuf; land some tree-, should l»e left standing' for shadi' ahout the home and that a person liuildiii): a house in the liroilin^r. l)akinn sun and then planting,' yuun^; trees around it is short -sijjhted indeed and losc^ the liesi part of a lifetime wailing for them to ^,'row■. As a rule the farmer's wife and the house taki- tin' dn-^'s of the IhoiiKht and planning; expended, and we made up our minds that the feminine portion of this farmer's household should have some shade ami lieauty from the earliest days of settlement. Mv careful choo>in;; and nuich planninj;. a f,'rov<' of inimulilaleil or only sli>,'hlly l>urn<'d trees was left in front of the house site, a few trees indicated the road, and a smaller j,'rove to the south of the housi- site >.'ave sli;;ht protection (or should 1 s.iy future promise of protection) from the hot Suuuner Sim; it also furnished an excellent place for localinj; the chicken house and .\ard. Till- next day we >ucceed fri<-n(l Steve, while the others came from lliuiliu^'ton and Wading' Kiver. respectively. Il was an interesliuf; day. while two lunch haskcts replaced the one of the day |>rcvious. Was this pioneering;? " I'Vank. Hf{ in ln-re wilh that liush scythe ami trim out this |>lol when- the hiius<' is to p>," .saiil the S<'nior Partner. "Vas, sir," said l-'rank. whose smile I am sure will never come olf as Ion;; as his facial i-lasticity remains. A few strokes anil tin* exclamation. "(Jolly, dis year swcel fern and liucklelierry am hard e a ^ood idea. " "Say, then-, (icorp", what are you doinj,' cutlin>; down trees like that; didn'l I tell you not to touch anything until I ^ave the word, thai tree was part uf the drive and the only ch<'stnut I hail; all ri^'ht " as .i duliious expression cauK' over his face— "you f,'et to work triuuiiin;; up these felletuul. " I said. "Well, niayhe it would, l)ut I wanted that chestnut." " l,ook at Sti've, diM-s he think this is Hroadway, he's wearing j^lovcs and, my uracioiis, patent leathers also! (ireat woodmen these. No wonder Westerners call it the etfete Kast." " Ves, lint look at the Captain, he can everlastiuf^ly cord wood, and no lost motion." 'I'he next day there was added to our ";,'anf,'" "Hijah" and "Tootsie" and " Hay me," who was familiarl> known as the "I'ahson." while a few more individuals of colorless charai-ler but strong on complexion completed the "ganj;." Their dinner was a sumptuous meal: colfcc. lioilcil in true woodman fashion, sandwiches galore, liananas and cake. They decided staying right there and clearing up the whole leu acres was just what they were looking for; that coincided with our desires, so they remained. We found that as evening a|)proacheil the "call of the curlistone" and street lamp was upon them, so they decided to walk to the " I'ort," as Port Jefferson is fondly termed. This they did, covering the twelve miles on the railroad tracks in due and ancient form, and the return twelve miles were negotiated liy dawn. .Next day work was not so hrisk, hut il was some time before we discovered the reason. Hut there was "a grouch on" and complaints started. ".Mis'r Kullcrlon. we all ain't gittiu' 'nough to eal. Dis year san'wich diet aiiil no food fo' a Working man." "\Nell. hoys, why don't .von a|i|ioint a cook and catiTor, surely one of you can get u|) a meal. ^ on have talked enough about being good axmeii, yon ought to know how to live out of doors." So the "I'ahson" was made chef. Next day a sumpluuns nu-al was in readiness at nuun, in fact a trifle befure, sunp, meat-slew, succotash, pie and cake. The usual result of a hearty midday meal was siHtn \ isible. each man wanted to lie down and go to sleep. Then and there we held a conference. The Islanders must be replaced by the manual mainsl.iy uf civilizaliun; the suns of Sunny Italy nMi-.t be secured. In the mciulimc il was decided tu remuve the stumps l.\ dynamite, as trying tu yank them uut by pullers ur by mallock and plow was both slow and brutal; as for the ordinary custom of allowing nature to work six yc.irs al the stumps and gradu.tlly eliminiile Ihiiu in part by decay was not worthy of consideration. Dynamilir Kissam of Huntington was engaged to do the blowing, lie is a man of calm and MTi-iie tiiuperamenl, .steady and careful at work, and to be fidly Irusleil. With the appro.ich of his • omiiig. the "up sleeve" scheme appeared. The editors of all the big New ^ork and Brooklyn daily papers anil inan\ editors of the prominent magazines were to be invited to the sjhiI to see the lirst stump Itlown out . .\ giMMl dii/iii of them ui.ide the trip un Se|)lcmber (i and Dyu.imilcr Kiss.mi greeled them with u Hidnle. Tile first slump was bluwn. shall, red tu bits and the ground pul\cri/cd. leaving a hole thirty inches deep and. marveluus tu relate, every bit of il be.iutiful rich brown soil with no sign of sand or gravel. The six-inch theory went up with the .stump. It was an intereslid and interesting parly of men. Some of them decided lt> travel us far north- M|gg|-*3 V -^M/^- .. 'i^^A^m ^K ^^^^^^^^Bkr' '4 ^^H^^^^^^^B ■ IPIHP^ -V [^P ii^i"^ . m^^l^^J- ^T-s*-' " v^ iiC'' ia The start: assorted native help Manual mainstay of ti)-(la\ — the Italian, finished the work Dynamiters and well-drillera at lunch \v.ird as llicy coultl go, others n-lri'iitod in utter confusion, while some remained the safe 200 feet from the explosion. Tlie universal ver«iitt, liowcvcr. was that they "would nut unch'rtake the task of making that wihlerness into a market >r;inlrii for any nionry." and "wo certainly had picked out the worst piece of land ever." They wished us joy of llie experinicnt. Hy this time the "gang" of womlmen had increased to eight, and some of their experiences were very funny. Wlien the charges had l>een placed and the usual warning signal, "fire!" given, both negroes and white men woulil fall over themselves to get out of the county; which was decidedly urmecessary, for the «-xplo.sions were always ke|>t well away fron> the workmen. Shortly afti-r the arrival of the dynamiter came Lorenzo Bal/.arano, a "Corporate" or Ilidian boss, to ltH>k over the work to be done and receive instructions, that he might pick men best suited to the work in hand, lie was a big fellow with a good face and a "job lot" of lliiglisli in his i)osscssion. lie remaincti over niglit, when tiie following interesting incident hai»|)ene(l. It came to us from the Dyna- miter. One of the colon-d m<'n being much infatuated with the cornet, and in fact, a village virtuoso, had , taken his instrument into th<' wilds and made night hideous wilii his attempts at imitations of lA'vy. Loren/o, wlio.se name is shortened and .Vmcricanized to "Larry," ask<(i if he might try the bugh-. This |)ortended huge fun for the superior .Vmerican, so the instrument was gleefully hamh-d over to the man they called the "dago." Larry made some noises even more startling tiian Steve's, and amid nuah laugiiter they endeavored to loach him the approved method of blowing. Larry made strenuous eirorls and linally, rising to his full height and throwing out his chest, filled the air with the most beautiful nmsical calls, ruiming from the thrilling call for a cavalry charge, through all the war horseman's life, to the last honors given a fallen hero. Never had they heard a professional cornetist strike every note more clearly or with the fervor that oidy the Latin blood possesses. All the American and many foreign army calls wore rendered before the men realized that the joke wjis on them. "Where did you learn thoin, Larry?" the Dynamiter inquired. ".Mo in Km|)eror's bodyguard. Me boss bugler," he calmly responded. The next day Larry, his ijrother, Antonio Monteforte (a Aa//-brother, evidently), who came in the capacity of timokooper, and 18 other Sunny Sons arrived, when the natives were very glad to depart to places of bods and indoor meals, sidewalks and continuous half-holidays. The (|Ucslion of housing the men w hilc at work was a matter that early came up for consideration. A shanty is the usual solution, while tents might be adopted, or the unsanitary "dug out" mar the landscape. The former was entirely too ugly to suit our tastes; it also was expensive and useless when the men were through with it. Tents wore rather too airy, as we knew the work would continue until freezing weather and i)erhai)s well into the winter. We "passed" on the "dug out." The ideal as well as the practical was something that would be of use after the work of clearing was completed, and for thaC purpose we d«'cidod upon "contlemned" freight cars. They cost but $10, the railroad being glad to got rid of them (a later sale by a big trunk line placed the market price at $1.00 each), w hile the hauling and placing cost about $lo. For .$5^5 we had a well-built, permanent, and the warmest and coolest (because lined with air sj)ace) chicken house one could possibly secure. A second car (for two were found necessary when the Italians arrived;, which we planned ultimately to make into a hay- loft or feed-bin, was placed to th" north of the location selected for the barn; so that by building a small barn directly against the car, the warmest possible place for animals would be secured. These cars were purchased and placed as soon as a clearing could be made for them, and the Italians were as happy as kings in a palace. One day a long, lanky, soody individual arrived and asked for work; cockney English was rampant within him and he proved to be an English "Navvy" just come over to join his wife, who had boon here some time; ho was cheerfully given work, but we looked for but little from him. Ho |)rovcd earnest and eager to learn, Ihoroforc of nmch promise. He started a farmer's boy and had run the gamut of "dork," hostler and sohlicr. finishing as 'longshoreman. With the ay far the most exciting and interesting part of clearing laml by modern methods. 'J'lie Dynamiter prepared his charges in two ways, one for fuse ignition, the other for electric spark. The dynamite is put uj) in half-pound sticks, they arc a little larger than an ordinary candle and^ are wrapi>od in heavy yellow i)arafIinod paper. One folded end of this paper is opened up and a ho' made by a wooden skewer in the dynamite stick, which is plastic and resembles graham bread in col and cotlsi.sloney. I'or m.i^rnetic battery work a copper cap containing a minute quantity of fulminate of raercur,^ and wiiich requires a si)ark to oxj)lode it, is attached to fine electric wires and .sealed by sulphur; thiV cap is j»lace.>ss<»<> li> ;i iii.irkid ilc^'nc. iiikI ikmt in .ill llif >r;ir.s lie lias u><l»li(|iu' liulfs imdcr liu- slump siiifjlcd (uil for cxcciitioii witji a roimf Ihi' most important parts of the work. Tho liolrs siioiihi Im> as ri<-arly hori/oiital as possililc aixi itircrtly imdcr the stiim|>, that all the explosive flint" may Ik- fxprenliil on the wood and eiol on the larlli iMlwccn the dynamilr and llir stiiin|i, for earth Hits as a cushion and the natural tendency of d> namite to exi-rt force downward is accent iialed. Small stumps up to four feel re(|iiire aliout ' •_> II)., while lar^c ones, say six lo eight feet in dianielcT, recpiin" ."{ Il»s. of the explosive, which is placed in several sep.irate holes surrounding the slump. When a slump recpiires separate eharnes, in oriler to secure united elforl the electric sp.irk is used, the wires altached lo the slicks of dynamite are coiuu'cled, and tiiis circle of wire attached to l)attcr,\ wire ah(»ul lilHI feet loiij;. This main wire is stretched to its limit an>> diameter and in an instant making e loosened but not completely torn out and piling them at intervals and immedi.itely burning them. 'I'his is a pnxess that eaimol take place when stumps arc removed by any other method, for by the dig- ging pHK-ess till- earth must be [jicked ami scraped from them and ultimately the stumps chopped or .s|)lit in pie<-es befori' tli<-y will burn. |{y the method pursued the -tump is burned and the ashes spread upon the groimd in a few hours after they are blown out. Hy this process is obtained the finest kind of unleache(i wood a.shes, nature's In-st fertilizer, containing vegetable lime to "sweeten" and |)otash and phosphoric acid to furnish plant food. The two condenmed freight cars had been pl.iccd in position and the Italians made them.selves thoroughly at home. In fact, they scemerl suj)remely happy there. Larry and Tony had i)artitioned off a portion of I heir c.ir for a beeans and lomatiM-s. During all the time they were thil or humus; forest fires had robbed the plot completely of this valuable element. Tis wors<- thiin a jiily. 'tis un|)ard(mable negligence on the part of landhohlers to neglect their fire lines. In the olden days ditehi-s were dug around .ill boundaries jind were kept free from d0 tons) in ,")!) minutes. The three remaining cars were unloaded by 14 men in 2^ hours. It was accomplished this way: "Larry," .said the Senior Partner, "tell the men to unload as ((uickly as they can and I will give them an American smoke. The railroad men say it will take three hours and I do not wish to delay the train <'rew .so long." "All right, Bo.ss, we .see," The \\oi-d was [jassed aroimd with llie above result. The box of cigars was delivered; then came the morrow. "Good morning, Larry, did the boys like the cigars?" "Yes, sir, we keep "em, feast day." "Hut, Larry, were they really good?" "Yes, sir, not so good like Italian cigar, Italian cigar stronger." "What do you pay for yours?" "I buy fifty cigar, thirty-five cent, him very good." "Are they American?" "No, Boss, him come from Italy." A team of horses with wagon, plow and driver was hired from the neighboring village of Rocky Point. First was hauletl to the northern Ixnmdary all cord-wood the Italians had been able to secure when clearing the land of standing timber and underbrush preparatory to dynamiting. When this was accomplished we posse.s.sed 18 cords of rather small wood; not much for ten acres surely. October 4, Mike Cooper (American for Miguel Coperilh)) began spreading manure on acre 1 and immediately plowing it in. It was our intention to sow Winter rye on as much of the land as could be prepared before cold weather prevented further work, in the hopes of having a few inches of green humus to plow under in the Spring. By this time such a hue and cry went up about the expense of using dynamite for clearing land that we had Larry pick his three best men to take stumps out by hand. We chose average stumps for them, and the best they could do was one stump each in from 2i 2 l*» '5' 4 hours and requiring the united efforts of all three to roll the root out after it was loosened. They succeeded in getting out only the bare stump, leaving all roots, large and small, to check the plow and prevent or seriously hinder culti- vation. Dynamiter Kissam, with "Dell" Hawkins' assistance, blew regularly from 75 to 110 stumps a day. The dynamite splits them so completely that they can be burned at once, and in fact one of the unwritten laws was that all stumps blown each day should be burned and the ashes spread before work stopped. The stumps taken out by hand required cleaning, splitting and drying before they could be burned; an added expense. Thus the comparison figures on 100 stumps: DYN,\MITE Average 60 lbs. Dynamite at 15c. j)cr lb $9.00 Labor of Expert and Helper : 5.50 100 fuses at 45c. per 100 feet 75 100 caps at 75c. per 100 75 HAND LABOR $16.00 100 average stumps requires 3 men 33 days at $1.33 per day $131.67 Stump pullers were out of the question, there was no standing timber for the block and fall to be fastened to, the time necessary to hitch to stumps buried just under the surface, frequently with rotted heart, together with the cost of the puller, hire of horses and men, made it way beyond the power of competing with dynamite. The daily bombardments seemed to interest people in the surrounding country very much. When questioned as to what was being done at the Experimental Station they would reply: "Aw they're plantin' flynamite and raisin' hell, and that's all they ever will raise." Now that the Farm has rai.sed other than that warm locality they say it is "Fullerton luck," but we know better. By the 10th of October all the 10 acres had been cleared of underbrush and dynamite work was progressing well. Fuses gave out, causing .some delay, as manufacturers are not overly prompt in deliveries. Two teams were working upon the cleared section, one plowing, one disc harrowing. Fol- lowing this process came spring tooth harrowing, which gathered up the finer roots of sweet fern and huckleberry so that they could be piled and burned. All this time water had to be carried from the depot, a mile and a half away. Two small Italian boys were kept busy all day traveling back and forth. Water must lie had for the Farm, and it w^as our desire to experiment in a small way with irrigation. There comes a time every season when the Eastern States have a drought of greater or less dm-ation. A market-gardener should not be at the mercy of the elements. There is too much at slake. Then, too, all extra choice products should be carefully washed before they are packed. As for the actual (piantity of water required by plants for their growth, the following instances arc very convincing: To produce one ton of dry oats rc(i\iircs .')'2() tons of water; one ton corn, '310 tons %yater; one ton red clover, 453 tons water. Iii other words growing plants require 300 to 500 limes their dry weight. It certainly seems as though water were more necessary than fertilizer or anything else but sun and air. In the middle of October the well was started; it was located on the house plot northwest of the 15 I . use site. Tin- lrtv> li-ft vacanl u cinle which was an ailiiiiral>lf scltiii^' for the tank tower ami a pnv (.•■tie con>idtTed in re>:ard to the meliuMl of pumpinK- I nder ordinary circuinslances a windmill would do, Ijut a farm should not he allowcil to prove a failure for lack of water in a drou^jhty season. During the past Summer, that of l!Mt.">. a (inuiKht struck the entire Eastern section of the United States, when vegetation was making a strong earlv growth; as a conseciuence many plants remained practically dormant. In case of oints and strainer revealed the fact that we had struck an infold or overlap of a terminal moraine, for the .sand instead of being .sea-wash running into gravel was as fine as emery. It wouhl never do to stop there, for the flow would be slow and the sharp stuff would wear the leather cups and bra.ss valves out in less than no time. Drilling continued through shallow layers; always water in plenty but geological conditions poor. At 149 feet a beautiful How was struck with ideal gravel bottom; we had reached that huge subterranean river which lies under Long Island and is a never failing source of crystalline water, free from surface drainage, pure and sweet for whomsoever cares to tap it. It rose to within 40 feet of the surface and was still rising when the pumps were put on and we had the first si[)~ sweet, sparkling, cold (49' F.) — the best drink in the world. Then, to test the supply, an eighteen- ineli stroke was pulled and she never "kicked." Now the first turn of the pump throws water into the t.ink, .showing that the water star.ds clo.se to the top of the pipe. lUit to return to the land. Nature smiled her sweetest upon us up to October 20, when there was a il-hour down[)our. "Now we're \ip against it, we won't get the rye drilled in for a week or more and that will be too late to get a good start this year," said the Senior I'artner. "Well, if that Farm is .•inything like our garden you can drill in rye to-morrow," I .said. Hand in hand we traveled forth the next day and there were the harrows going merrily over the ground, and though the .soil was moist it did not cake u|) a bit. Rye was sown in the afternoon, thus completing three out of the ten acres. The compari.son of phnving this land with land cleared in the usual way is interesting. To begin with, the team and driver cost ^i.UO \h't day, while they always charge $.3.00 per day for tlie land when stum[>s arc left in. This land plowed at the rate of \} 2 acres a day while ^4 of an acre is the best they can do in stump land. On October 2H I had the jileasureof blowing out our "king" stump, a chestnut 73 2 feet in diameter. Our neighbors and friends were kind and encouraging, many of them came long distances to remonstrate after this fashion: "Say. old man (that's not I), we're awful fond of you and you have done a lot for the Islaml. We'd hate to .see you ruin yourself. F(»r goodness sake give this thing up before it is too late. You know nothing will grow here undiT three to six years. Honest, oltl man. we mean it." Then the Senior I'artner would walk around with them a bit and they would say, "What's that griN'n over there)'" ;*Uye." ".No, go- wan, it can't Im-I" "(Jo and look for yourself then," he would answer. They went away n<>l>ler and belter men. Others would gather in the village stores and decide that we had "j)izened" the .soil with gases from the dynamite, but as the rye grew stronger and greener they .said, " W«ll, anyway, it wouldn't live the winter through. " .\« the weal lier grew colder the problem of handling the dynamite l)eeame a perplexing one. It fr<-<'zes at 41'" and \si- were absolutely determined to get at least 10 acres cleared before snow flew. .\ magazine was made of a large dry goods ease and plaeeil in the miildle of a pile of manure, tii o|M-ning facing south. The dynamite wjia stored in this, only as nuich as was needed for immedial' work being rcmove^^ jOUU iralliin^i (It pure wauT alua. "I)vniimili- laiiip" was first ItHaIrd in I lit- In him- plot. I ml as ||ii' work niuviil west ward. ( aiiiji also liad I" iimvc. Kiiiiilly ««• loialiil in lli<- w imllmak. |>las already prepared for ;oal wa> itciiriy rea( lied. Dynamiter Kissani and the "Captain," or "Cap," as Dell was more often cylh-d. w<>rk<'d harder than «'Ver i and l)lew 1 10 stumps that day, the next !(7. next H). n«'xt (i(>, n«'xl !)!», I>ut apparentl.N they mad<- no impression upon it. We liccame impatient, the I'all was slipping' l>y anus Spitzenhurg. Ordinaire. Orapgc. Northern Spy. Jupatirsc Phi ins. Pears. Raspberries. Ahundanee, I?artli-lt, (lohlen Queen, Ihirbank, Wordcii Seekle, Champlain. Satsuma, .\njou, Wiekson. B. S. Fox. Gimseherrles. European Plums. Currants. Downing. Grand Duke, Fays Prolifie, Industry. Bavays Greengage, AViiitc Currant. Monarch. Moorepark Aprieot, Nectarine. Red. while and blue grapes, Catawba. Niagara, and Concord, Kathburn lilackbcrrics, Palmetto aspara- gus. Myalls Linneaus riiubarb and Shari)less strawi)erries from liie home garden. The holes were prepared with wood ashes thoroughly mixed at the bottom, the roots carefully pruneout them. When the hole was filled, two short stakes were driven beside the tree, one to the east, one to the west, a picc«> of old garden hose about four inches long was split and encircled about the tree trunk. A soft stout twine tied around liic |)i<(c of hose and extending to each brace and back again, held the Irce firm so that no amount of wind could loosen the roots. We had the feeling that this work was too important to trust to others, but soon found that Larry, Tony and Dominique were doing as well as we could; in fact, many of these men showed real talent for gardening. Tying was work that woman's hands could claimed attenlion. Stone for the concrete corner foundations of the tower had to be i)roiight from the beach, the entire farm having disclosed four stones, the largest four inches in diameter. .\ large hole was dug. filled with i)oulders and cement, a srjuare casing set above and the concrete jioured in. The engine base was made the same way and with even more scrupulous car(>, for wt> were j)articularly anxious the engine should have a firm foimdalion. All this work was done by the well-driver and John, no experts or high-priced men were on the work. The tower went u|) and waited weeks while "tracers" followed the bulk from Michigan here. If any manufactunT could delay the work we seemed destined to win the delay. Dame Nature was always with us, helping in every conceivable way, but man ^well, man ii dead .slow and "l)iles off [in the.se strenuous days] more than he can chew," and often prefers not t. keep his w(»rd, while his contract is seldom lived up lo. A carpenter and his boy next held sway, enci" iitf{ the lower, and building a h-an-to for the pump head. .\n engine does its best work when some erinjenlal Station No. 1; even if they had. there are many things millions cannot accomplish. At last the tank arrived and was erected; then another delay while "tracers" again hunteil pump 4 \ ^:'' 'i-.:^.«i;:- -->A hJ-r OiskiiiK witli ■' Well into the Winter work continued, the Italians (now cut dcnvn to a much smaller force, of course), set fence ])osts about the entire 18 acres, and a division fence line between the market-garden and the dairy. This was slow and tedious work, for the ground was pretty well frozen, yet we knew that when Spring opened there would be more than all hands could attend to without thinking of I fences. Nature favored us with an exceptionally open Winter, .so that much more was acco.nplished than I was expected. Yet what remained to be done seemed stupendous and we awaited the opening of I Spring with bated breath. ( Winter nights found us poring over catalogues of .seeds and implements, traveling to factories to j see these implements made and learning their various features, drawing jjlans for a simple barn that I would blend into the freight car without looking freaky, plotting the ten or rather thirteen cleared acres, that there might be no hitch either in ordering seed or planting the same, j About the middle of January, Teddy, a young Englishman of about 20, appeared, asking for work. ■ He was an artisan's son and had been working on Long Island for a year or more; we engaged him gladly for the Spring. He found work in the village during the W^inter and we were ready for his help March 1 . j W'e had also engaged a Huntington boy who had worked for us in our garden, where many strange I v'egetables have found a home, to go with his wife to the Farm when Spring opened; Mike Cooper, \ who broke up the soil, following the dynamiters closely, begged to become one of our force, and as he is a good plowman, farmer, willing and quick, we also engaged him for the Spring. I In January a trench four inches deep had been dug along the front fence on the house plot; here I we sowed sweet peas, giving them a little old manure and plenty of wood ashes. They were covered I to within an inch of the surface, and instructions given to Mack to fill it in before a heavy snow-storm. Alas for the sweet peas he filled the trench with true English thoroughness and but few of them ever I came through. I think now I prefer Spring planting. Who said, "Sour Grapes." j A pile of "blown" stumps with their long slender roots was piled by the drive gate. to serve in ' the futiu'c as a nasturtium trellis. Several stumps were placed about the trees to serve as seats and ' flower-stands, and as reminders of the past. I One of the most important portions of Winter work is the making of hot-beds for raising .seedlings. ' The barn was not erected at the Farm, and no spot was quite sheltered enough for beds; besides a I 'longshoreman-sailor-soldier Englishman cannot tend hotbeds successfully. "What shall we do.''" said the Senior Partner. "We must have tomatoes, early cabbage and cauliflower plants. We will have to grow them here under our personal supervision and there is only one place to put them that is ideal." "I know," I replied, "where I raise my early chicks, the warmest spot in our home acre. .\ll right, go ahead, we'll sacrifice even chickens to the success of Number One." So John Coddington was at once installed maker and tender of hotbeds for Exi)eriiiiental Station No. 1 at Huntington in our own home chicken yard. The space admitted of .seven sash; a thre(>-foot hole was dug, the frame set according to regulations and hot manure placed in the l)ott()in. Fine sifted loam was placed over this and when the bed had reached the proper temperature radishes were .sown, for we intended getting one crop of these before tomatoes, cabbage and cauliflower took all the room. There were many bunches pulled in March when radishes were bringing "2.jc. a bunch. Tomato seed was sown in February in .seven varieties: early, medium and late; pink, red and yel- low. In the little conservatory, our Winter's delight and recreation, my .seed i)oxes were brought forth and planted with a.sters, pan.sies, coleus, peppers and canhxm, all destined to beautify the house plot iioout the little homestead in the Wilderness. When seeds are sown, Spring begins. i, rr--- 1-^ ■} .J J ;••• •*' • """o* ^'"m "»> .r.^^. TREE SYMBOLS ;( ■ »iNi r, "'""Ho ^^•■■^ir Clov, i. k Pt Spring-, the Strenuous Season PHiNG began with us when the ground, even tliough still hard, could be turned over. "Mack," so dubbed to prevent confusion with John Coddington, forked the lawn plots about the house — • the plow had not done any work here, for the trees interfered. It was hard work and slow, but brawny muscle and encouragement prevailed. A dressing of well-rotted manure and a sowing of ashes had been spread for turning under, for we wished to lay special stress ui)on the grass plot. Too many new homes never have one, more's the pity. Of course it needed raking after being turned over, and as no rakes seemed to grow in scrub oak, the Englishman turned Yankee and invented one. He took a board, drove nails through it, fastened it to a stick and proceeded to rake; Teddy, for a drag and leveler, tied a couple of cedars to a board, which answered the purpose admirably. Edward Tuddenham, or Ted, started work March 1, giving us two men. Much work on buildings was j'ct to be done, while two more portables of 3 and 5 rooms each were ordered; one was for the helpers, the other for our own use. This necessitated moving the seaside cottage already erected on the house plot farther west — an added expense, but one that under the circum- stances was unavoidable. The tower was still incomplete and the barn uncrectcd. March 19 brought with it a corps of four carpenters. I quote from the Senior Partner's diary to show that things did not go merrily all the time: "The four carpenters arrived with little to eat, nothing to cook with and nowhere to sleep. I took out of the chicken-house- car materials stored there waiting the arrival of the portable houses, set two men to work erecting bunks and tables, while the third returned to the city for food supplies." It was necessary to keep the workmen there, for distances were so great the best portion of a day was used in traveling back and forth. Our next few days were spent in getting out orders for vegetable plants (knowing full well we could not raise all we should need), and various other "knitting work." Receiving word that the carpenter who erected the first portable would be there to erect the others (which, by the way, had arrived), we retiu-neil to the Farm. The first thing that greeted us was the barn frame, standing about four feet above the car top and big enough for an apartment house. "For heaven's sake," exclaimed the Master Mind, "do you think we are going to keep giraffes? That thing is big enough for giants. Where's the plan.'' We drew it and sent it in with this roof slanting south from the car roof!" The drawing was produced, a beautiful blue and white thing by expert draftsmen, but the speci- fications attached did not "gibe." To say Me "threw fits" draws it mildly. Three men had worked three days with second hand extra heavy timber (this is where the Pennsy was saving a few millions) and tliis awful nightmare stared us in the face. "It hoodoos the whole place," I exclaimed. "We might Just as well not have worked so hard. Telephone (oh, yes, we had a telephone, every farmer should, especially if he is far from civilization and the base of supplies) to the Engineer's Department and ask them if it can't be altered." A heart to heart talk with the foreman revealed the fact that his instructions were to "Do whatever Mr. Fullerton wants. If he says to put the roof on the ground and the floor on top, you do it." That was sufficient for us, the roof came down in the world and later took its proper place. IJut March was slipping away and there were no horses, and plowing must start soon! Would that barn crer be built.'' The Thanksgiving cottage must be moved; for so the first one erected was nametl, from the fact that we took the two children and dinner under our arms and spent the day at the Farm. Dinner consisted of cold broiled chicken — the real kind that you raise yourself, not the dormant kind of city life — fried sweet potatoes, which I warmed in the little oven (this was before Mack's family had moved in) and pumpkin pie. To quote again from the diary: "The entire Fullerton family having decided that the small village plot was not sufficient in extent to allow their true Thanksgiving proper expansion, arranged to take their dinner in a basket and eat what was the first Thanksgiving dinner ever eaten, by a white man at least on Peace and Plenty Farm (this is our own pet name for the place). The little portable was warm and the drawing tabic supplemented by an extremely low rocker, one extremely high rush-bottomed chair, several dynamite boxes and the mattress of a cot bed, made this dinner unique in a great diversity of respects. "As an a|)|)»tizlaii«l-|{i»t«iii milk train, now almost forfjotlcii, nuvr llic cliililrcn an opjiortnnit y wliicli tiicy have lonpd for, of In-ing 'real railroad men,' utilizing' the li>\v platform with its Itrakc as a locomotive of express speed. " Hy means of an oliject lesson, consisting,' of |)eanul brittle. fij;s, velvet molasses and a very <-«n'fnl and lenj:thy explanation, the Italian k'"'>H were made at last to understiind what the American Tlianks^'ivinj; was aixuit, and lin.illy Ity coml>inin>; Spanish with Kiij,'lish, reward was secnrwl and some feast day ealh'd ■.Siicet)re' lielil in Italy was discovered, this evidently l)ein>; a day of similar meaning; to the Italian race." And I mi^jht add that evi-ry man jack of them later passed the door, raised his hat and said, "'I"ank y«in, lioss." Hoss to tlu-m is feminine as well as masculin<'. Hnt to return to the march of events. 'rhanksj;ivin>; eott.i^'e was moved, a new one ereeleil over the »-ellar, and the three-room farther west in the wind-lircak. \\r selected as much tree shelter a.s we eonid for ea was plenty inside, however, and the «arpenter"s liainm«r still rang. The last day of March heing clear, we set out some dormant plants ahout the house |)lot; roses, ornameiit.'d j;rasscs, iris and su<'h tliiii>;s. .\t home till- tomal(K's had grown strong and sturdy; we were gi\ing them all the air possible to ki-ep tlu-m stocky, and now they neeleted the outfit. Jolili tilled the pots, I set the ])lants, a w hoh' day and they were not done yet; anotiier half day and wf had the liedVs capacity filled. l.;J(l(l pots returnefl to tin- fram«' to await warmer weather for transporting. \\C were rather jjroud of that bunch. For sevur liking, tomatoes neetl heal, the others cold, so the latter were being somewhat coddled. .\\>r\\ first atul the barn not yet complete. There was f>nly one thing to do, coax Neighbor Robin- .son to rent us his team again until we could g<'t our horses. On the 4nd plow ing started on acres 1 and i. The rye was l.> inches high — alas for the |)rophels — and was being turned unrler to do untold good. Kine roots of huckleberry and sweet fern still ke|)t coming up and we knew the fight with them was destined to l>e a long and hard one. The harrow gathereil them up somewhat, but still they were ob- structionists. 'J"hc annual fonvst fin's started to the west of us; strenuous effort t)n the part of all the force of workmen .savt'd that .section of the Island from again burning over; a second fire a few days later with a westerly wind met its own defeat against the fence of the cleared land of the Ex|)erimental Station. Hy the i-nd of the first week in .\|)ril work was swinging at a rajjid pace, land was being plowed as fast as |)o.ssible. the stalile nearly complete, so that on the 7th the two "condemned" exjjress horses (eondenmed because their feet were worn out by city pavements and for no other reason) arrived, (ireat big l*eautiful fellows, one a gray with a little I'ercheron in him immediately named "Buckeye," while the other, a Roman-nosed bu<-kskin, received the name "Texas." in recognition of his ancestry. Ilorso and lian\ the liltlt- I'lancI Jr. Iiaml ilriils, I hose cxipiisilc jilllc tiin<'-.savt'rs. As an illn.slratitin of llif work lluy will ilo in this m-w ^'roiiml it ruquircd io minutes to plant S rows of parsnips, oiuli row l(((( fret lonj;. To plant thri'f rows each of four dilFcrcut varieties of lettuce consume*! 4.> minutes and thi.s of course meant cm|)ty and fill the drill for each new variety. 1^'ttuce plant-s and caltl>a),'c jjlants from a Ilunliti^'ton grower were set out (we wi.sbcd to test trans- planted lettuce with that grown in drills and ordy thinned). Chives, shallots, l'(;-tsai. carrots and radishes from North China were all sowed. Udo, the Japanese celery, was planted to the east of the raspherries. On the iilst ull trees and siiruhs were sprayed with "Scalecide," as a preventive against the San Jose s<'ale. To do the orchard and herries re minutes and 8 gallons of the mixture (1-S gal. scalecide at (idc. per gallon); not a very costly ounce of prevention. \ portion of tlu" lawn was sprinkled as a first test of irrigation. On the '2(ith of .\pril the gra.ss .se<-d had germinated on this portion only. l't)t)itoi's wt-re planted this month — nine varieties as a lest of tiirir carlin<'ss, |)roductivene.ss and qualities. On the night of the ij'ind the "hustler" came home and c\( l.iiiii<(l: 'A plum is in hloom." '" Where.^ In our garden?" "Our garden nolliinu. No. 1 of course." "Why it caul be, ' 1 e.xclainuil, "you know Ihcy really ought iiol lo be ali\c anul eacli hen in ;i box with hay and three china eggs under her. They traveled the '3'3 miles .selling all the way. I doubt if anything could have disturbed them with the eggs under their breasts. Wonderful nature of motherhood!) "Set out 880 cauliflower from the hotbed. "IJeing unable to secure plumbing experts, made a i)ractical demonstration that an English solilier and an American cowboy could cut pipe and afiix fittings willioul stupendous dillicully. and further make ab.soluli- natioh inade it all after the strenuous outdoor day work was done. Lima beans were jjlanted on the last day of April, although I believe the i)ropcr ol.l-fashioncur forefathers" d.iy planted in the "dark" and i|ll upper crops in the "light." To us. nature's signs are the ImsI; when the maj)le is in buil. in leaf and in bloom are sure signs, for she never makes a mistake. Her planted wherever we could find a place for tlieui to climb. Then the crows began to talk and we heard them deciding that we were now a portion of civiliza- .11. wliilr lli<- y liaii;ardens was religiously sent to him. On the •ilsl the Suffolk County Press A.s.so<'iation held their aiuiual uKctinj; at No. 1. Phey dnied out of «loors "al fresco," ealiuf; of the crops >;rowinn not a do/i-n paces ;iway. To them the Farm was a n-velation, for all of tliem were familiar with the vast tracts of unused lamis and to them it meant a new era for the Island they are ail working; for .so earnestly. To (piote from one of the number: Wonderful Long Island Soil //. H. FiillrrUm Shmrt Sciopaper Stin .Marreloiis RffitU) from Scientific Ute. I..IIIK Man.! .tKii is ailiiplol to tlic «rowin(f of nil kiiiiis of fruit and vfRpliiliit-.s in a dpRree that is only just l»<-Kinning to lir rriili/i-ii. It lia.s Iomr Ix-fn a |Kipiilar .tiiporslition tliat the island was a l)arren sand waste, which could Krow only marsh (frns». and lliiil noiif tiM> profusely. There are still a verv few people out.side of the island who believe it can jtrow more than IMHinil for iMiund of ve(fetal>les to" lM)ne fertilizer. It is safe to say that there is not a baker's dozen of people in all of New York ("ilv who know the unlimited possilidities of llie l^ong Island soil. ... , . , .\ dav of awakeniuK is near at hand, however. .V man keenly alive to the real aRriculturul situation on the island (hi- nnnie is II. h. Fullerlon) has come into contact with a man keenly alive to the promising future of all of suburban New York, ■ nil the result is that the island will lie developed with intelligence and patience along the very lines which Nature designed for il Hilph Pliers is the president of the Long Island Railroad and the man who is alive to the promising future of the suliurb- of New York. When Mr. Fullerlon. who can give the author of the ".Simple Life" cards and spades in "getting back t.. nature." -.howi-d Mr Peters what he had done in a small way with Long Island soil on his own place at Huntington, Mr. Peters said. "Fiillertiin. you can iloulil theories; liut the.se are facts," or words to that effect; and l)ecamc .so possessed of an enthusiasm for Ling Island soil that he wius not salislied until the railroad itself had taken holil of the task of demonstrating the soil's priMlucliveness. Well, the railroad has the task well under way; and you wouldn't believe, unless you had seen, what has lieen accom- plishnl since last fall. Ten acri>s of what were then virgin, tangled, oak land, a little at the west of the Wading River station, the last station on the Port Jefferson branch of the road, are now under cultivation ami growing almost every conceivable kind of fruit, vege- labli-s and flowers. Think of ill It was the despised "Liong Island .scrub oak land" last fall! .\nd now it is under cultivation and lionring the tenderest of garden truck. "Why, certainlv," numv a scoffer has been heard to say about it, "the experimental farm had the dollars of the railroad back of it III buv fertilizer willi. Of course you can make thirty cents grow if you plant a double eagle." But the joke is on the scoffer; for tliis rich little farm, which has been growing only trees, mosis, huckleberry vines and rattlesnakes since Columbus came over on the llanibiirg-.Vmerican or whatever line of steamers il was and nominated himself for discoverer of .Vnierica, this little farm has not used an ounce of that supiwi.sed cherished necessity of Long Island farming — bone fertilizer. .Mr. Fiillerton knew that the use of il would sound the death knell to his enterprise. The land was freed from stumps and the slumps were burned on the place On one acre there were over seven hundred of them. The wimmI ashes were left on the ground and the ten acres which were cleareil were sowed with r.ve, which in the spring was plowed undi-r. Then, in planliiig the pea.s, railishes and what not, very poor horse manure was u.s«I. So much for fertilizer, fish. iMine and every other kind — ex<-ept water! .\nil there is the .se<-rel. There', water enough on Peace and Plenty farm. There's a jittic kerosene engine which pumps it up from the earth and fills a la.nk. Clieap iron pipes carry it to the farm; and there isn't a piece of the land thai laiinot Iw reached by it. Old Sol can beat down as he will, and .Iiipiter Pluviiis go on as pniliingi'd a spree as he will, and noglerl his bii.siness; the crops will grow liecause ihev have the water. It is cheap irrigation, too. Here, again, the "money bags" of the railroail have mil been foolishly opeiieii. The melhoing Island Railroad invited the members of the Suffolk Counly Press .\.s.sociation to inspect the farm on Monda> ■nd placiil a private train of two cars at their disposal. Mr. Fullerlon was the host in charge, on the train and on the farm. lusisteil al Ihe taller place by .Mrs. Fullerlon, who is, herself, an aiilhorily on horticulture. .■\ dinner was served under Ihe trees on Ihe farm on the arrival of the train about noontime, .\liout twelve of the Island writM-s s|M'nl one of I lie most enjoyable days of their lives on this occasion; tint, more important, were impres.sed lu never t>efore with till' piissiliililii's of I/ing Island soil. — Ainili/rilU- Record, May <5, 1006 .\ drouuhl was startinj;, warm lliiil winds were blowiuf; sleailily day and night, a more trying; condition <'ould not In- fountl. 'J'lie irrigation sjirayers were started in the pc;ts. radislies and lettuce, still they did not respond as we w.inted tiiem to. "Try some nitrate of .soda and .see if that will give them a boost," 1 said. "I hate to do it," tin* S<'nior I'artner repli<', but we can't have an ideal markit-gardi-n here this year. I-ook what tin- soil has done alreatly." On the i'Mi\ .John mixed some nitrate of .soda with earth, half and half, and sowed it beside the |M-as, lettuce, cabbage and cauliflower (caiilillowcr between the peas, I mean, only KHI |>lants). 'I hat was (III lbs. of nitrate, the umI.v fertilizer the r-rops ever liiid. Still «<• kept thi' sprayers going, for the drought Listed until the ind of .Fiine. but peas yielded, radishes were sn IJiick there was not force enough to gather and ship them, while lettuce began heading up in excellent sh.ipe. The la.st of .May g.ivc us the (irst discord in our Farm family. .\ woman we had befriended hail lM>«-n growing grutiipii-r and grumpier for some time, while a member of her family was often sullen and moruMT. .\ cluud-burst whs soon ti> appear, wc felt tin- Ininuin thunder in the air. 90 *• * At last tlu- |)Iia.s fnun licr '" lli.it llurr wiis more than one pair of hands coulil do," allliou>,'li sin- li.id Imvii working for a imirli larp-r family, lUcidcd llie (lueslion. Slio was citlier to slay iindiT the sami- (luuiitions >vitlioiit furtlicr lroiil)lr from lur, or ^n. do it was, and tlial proiiiplly on .Iiinu 1. The last day of May tlie man l)oanled the train from New York witlioiil leave. The Master ordereil him hack from I'ort Jt-lferson on the j;rounds of desertion, lie did not return ami the womainli.sappeured that afternoon, returning; about t) V. M. in a disturbed frame of mind. The seeret was out. The man returned the following ni^'ht in an upset condition, announced himself a deserter not only from the Farm but also from the Kn^'lish army and that he was a dangerous man generally. Amifl stf May's frosl ; an iiiliTcstinj,' cxixTiiiKiil liowevor that sluMiUI have tin- l)i'Mf(it of all tin* tiino nccdnl to jirovi- itsi-lf. JJriisscIs sprouts had iRt-ii scl IxHwccn llu- hills, iiiakiiif; the patch, \\r hoped, u little more j)ro(liirtive. Alas for our hopes, these i>laiiLs came from the suime nursery in Maryland as the lettuce, and l»rou>,'ht with them lilij;lit and cabha^e louse, an act that should no mon- he tolerate;ht. The acre is divided into (piartcrs and l>eiii>,' pre|)ared to receive alfalfa. The field has already heen plowed, dressed with C'anaila woo<| ashes, harrowed, leveled, rolled, harrowed and harrowed a^ain, raked and again rolled in order that the soil mij;ht he in the Ix-st possihie condition. We have hrought with us some I.itnuis paper, and to test the acidity of the soil, a handful is moistened at a nearby irrigation stand-pipe and the paper applied. .Vnxious watching and it slowly turns blue. ".Ml right," calls the Farmer, "sow that soil carefully John, in the northeast quarter and don't let any lap into the other (piarters. When you come to harrow it in Mike, let Ted go with you and lift the harrow from (piarter to (piarter so no earth will be dragged." The soil.^ That is from an old afalfa field up New ^'ork State and we are sowing it to inoculate our soil with bacteria. The far or northwest corner is th<' highest you notice, it is the check quarter, that will have no intwulation whatever. The southerly arc I'. S. (piarters, one will have the .seed, and the other both se<-il and soil inoiiilated with bacterial culture from the U. S. (juvernmeut Laboratories; this is a ti'st for I'ncle Sam. The acre across to tin' left is divided in half; this was the poor thing that was not plowed until this Spring. Isn't it rough and arn't the rows crooked.^ Teo-sinte, the Japanese fodder that can be cut four times in a season, won't care. See, it's breaking ground. Yesterday they sowed the other half of this acre with Japanese barnyard millet. And this? Oyes, white flint corn, beyond sorghum, and still beyond, ^ irgiiiia horse tooth. The\ were planted the twi-iil \-sixtli and of course are not up yet. " \Vh.\ do we |)lant in hills?" you ask. "Isn't that old fashioned?" Perhaps, but a good fashion, for the crop can be is where the swt-et j)otatoes will go. Do we think they will do well here? Yes, but not as well as the lighter .soil on Kxperiment Station No. 2, at Medford. It is an experiment worth trying howevi i for they have been grown successfully on the North Shore. AVe plan to put in nearly an acre. Why is this [)art of the land so very rough, you ask. O, this is the acre that had 797 stump-^ upon it, all o\tr eighteen inches in diameter. Imagine the forest that one day nuist have covered it. These acres eight and nine are left for late "flowers," cabbage and sprouts; btit acre nundier .seven, ilown \onder, is thriving. These are a second planting of green j)od and wax beans, next scpiash and pumpkin with cucumlier alongside. I know they are sui)i)o.sed to mix, but they never have in our home garden and I see no reason why they should here. This is a third planting of corn, there are five varieties here and all up strong you see. Yes. limns next, both bush and pole, lieyond you .see a s])ace without poles, here we intend placing a section ef fence, for we have a theory that the beans will ripen more evenly, while by cutting the ruimers back we will throw the strength into the beans. .Another experiment you see. Stop here ,1 nmnieiit and look over the Farm, then look beyond to the west and see what it w just nine short months ago. Has the ex|)eriment jjaid, is it not already proven that the land is prodii live, though the harvest is not yet? ('•mie through the orchard and you will sec the tomatoes in bloom. L f insect life. M :i^x- Preparing vegetable food for city dwellers Over in the ilairy unions the pinos, tin- Siiiior I'lirtiHT foiiiid, last Fall, a stumi) loiij; and sK-nd. r nnd lii.Ilowrd iiiJo a l.asin. At tlic timo ho Uumjihi of a l»ird l)atli. Now was llic tinu- to fix it. "Mikr, hitcli ii|) Tixas and f;o '"•<» '•'<• plantinK the 'longshoreman, and a wonderful ehan^e for the hetter it proved to I>e, for Mike had heen trained as a pipe fitter. In fart, he sin-nis n jack of all trades: f<>lii)ler. (•arpenly the (lanstalf where on Decoration Day thi; llafj Iiad Iteen raised on its new jMile to half mast. (The American Flap ha.s ahvnys waved at Peace and Plenty). .\ very convenii-nt hole in one of tlie tap roots admitted of a pipe heing run throuRli, while a nas-jel as a tip threw a fine spray like a fan .shaped flame. The stump was inclined sliRhtly forwanl, a kerosene liarrel, with the holtom knocki-d out, sunk at the end of the stump; this filled witli large stone receive*! the ilrip from the fountain. From our next trip to the beach we rettirned ladened with ItriRhl pehhies which the children dropped in the fountain l)owl to sparkle in tlie water. In a few days our efforts were rewarded (if the ix auly of it .ind the trickling; soimd of water was not reward enoufjh) for lihiiliirds came for a l)alli. tlien tlie thrnslies. and later indi^'o-huntin^s and yellow warbler-, wliile sparrows of many varieties proceeded at once to build in the tre<'s about th<' homest<'ad. On the fourth the State .\f,'ri(ullural Inspector arrived, his surprise at the Farm's api)earaii warmed our hearts. and inspircfl us with new courajjeand fjreater determination. We needed the eour.ii for that .sjune day we discovered root magpot in Pe-tsai and Sakurajima radish. We had wondcre«i why the latter went to blossom while so small, for at home they prcw enormou.s before sending up th'; bios.som stalk. Hoot maggot galore in every last one of them! ".Ml right, sir. we'll fix you." we said. "Ted, l.ike out all those Sakurajima (there was one long row), fork over the ground well and mak>> a drill in exactly the same i>lac<'. Everlastingly pour in Canada wood ashes in the bottom of the drill . and we'll plant Sakurajima right over again in that same .spot," said the Railroad Farmer. "It will be a tough maggot that can live in tho.se ashes, sir," said Ted. "Guoy! but they d ■ go for my 'an exodus of the 'longshoreman's family, came "Shep," a cook loaned us to tide over imll new help could be procured. We were somewhat of a family; we four and the stenographer, Ted, Mike, Nettie and Waller, my faithful maid's brother of fourteen whom we took from a home, knowing' well the value of a boy this age to "fetch and carry." In a few days Uoger and Sophia, a colored couple of some fifty-five summers, appeared. .\ui ' Soj»hie was a sweet-faced, gray-haired little bit of a woman, wliile Uncle Roger was large, rheum;.' and jolly. She was a true Southern cook and gave us loads upon loads of hot bread and fried thin in general. Fncle had always been a porter and didn't know a hoe from a shovel. The agricultur. 1 instinct is in the race, liowever, and he soon learned to hill up corn and hoe potatoes in due and ancient form. In spite of all tlie modern farm machinery there is a certain amount of hand labor necessar especially in new ground. Peanuts went in early in .May, the little Spanish and the huge Mammoth. ^^'alte^ soim learned to gather radishes, assist in transplanting and made himself generally usefn'. l'"rom the seed-bed were transplanted 180 kohl rabi, some of the North China products, and EnieraM Isle kale. Radi.shes were so abundant it kept one of us busy all day, wa.shing and packing them. Mat were .sent direct to one of the big restaurants, being packed, unbunched. in crates lined with parafl paper 1,400 radisln's to a crate was the average and each radish perfect f>f its type. One of o first resolves and firm compacts was that nothing but the very best that we could produce should le.i the Farm. Therefore from radishes, right through the season, every variety was sortene hundred feet Umg ri-qiiired one and'-iii away. Wc li.i\. ii standing joke in our little home town. The assistant postmaster is an enthnsia.s' gardener, and .ibose all else he loves an eggplant. For ye.irs he has tried to rai.se them and never li Miecre«le<| in .ven gelling one to .s<4. "Hello, neighbor," he called Ibrough the fiost-olHce window, "I hear you're goin' farmin' out in the Ncrub oak. zone," was the confident njoimler "Hot you .lout.'" Ik- n-plicd. "Ui-t you them warm, but to conwrvi- the moisture about the roots. , ,• , , • • i , Radish s»H(l was planted in every melon hdl, serapmg the earth slightly with the foot, dropping- a few s,ed. pushing the soil baek and trea!.«•> it not? but this was only a guartlian crop; they break the grouiiil, germinating in a few days, also the flea beetle loves radish leaves much belter than melon leaves, and feasts ui>on the latter only when the former are not to be found. The spinach patches being virlu.dly a failure, Walter was sent over them to pick .some for home u.se, then Ted sowed Canada wood ashes preparatory to cuUivatiiig for a new crop of a different type. The ashes remind me of an incident of the the early Sunuuer. The higli-chief-lx.ss farmer had just gone over to Thanksgiving Cottage to dinner, wIkii .Mike appeared .saying: "They a man over there want .see you, Mr. Fuller'." "Well, tell him to make himself at home and 111 be there in a minute." Mike returned very j)romplly, .saying: "He .say he can't wait, very iinj)ortant." "Tell him to come over here then, I'm going to finish this meal as quick as 1 can and get back to work." The gentleman ajjpeared making profuse apologies and saying he was from the State Department s«'nt to analyze our fertilizers. "You've an ea.sy job neighbor," said the Senior Partner, "better sit down ami join ine in ni.\ frugal meal. We haven't any fertilizer but good old stable manure." "That's a pretty story all right, .Mr. Fullcrlon, but everyone knows you couldn't make a plac look like this without chemical fertilizer," he replied. "It's a fact nevertheless. Why, man alive, this is virgin soil, what does it want with ehemicjil fertilizers? I wouhln't have u.sed manure if it had not been burned over so many years. All thi- land needs is humus." Hy this time they bad gone out upon the Farm and were joined by another gentlemen, a companion to the first. The spokesman said: ".Mr. Fullerton claims he has used no commercial fertilizer, Jim." Whereupon ".Jim" asked: " What are all those bags in the barn then, Mr. Fullerton?" And it was said with a tone of voic. that implied that the Railroad Farmer was caught "dead to rights" this time. "Canada wood ashes, help yourselves. Take a whole bag with you and analyze it if you desire." They went to the barn and were soon thoroughly convinced it was wood ashes pure and simple. ".Mike bring me that bag of nitrate of .soda." "This, gentlemen, is the only thing in the nature of a chemical fertilizer that I shall use thi^ year and I got this only as a hasteiier for lettuce, celery and cinlive. This is one of the J'"arm's best a.s.sets." .\nd he showed them out behind the barn a tarred kerosene barrel sunk beside the stalls, raising the lid disclo.sed all the lirpiid stable waste. "This is as good as nitrate and costs nothing," he further explained. The experts went away after more carefully inspecting the crops, fully convinced that our poin' was well takt-n and .saying: "Well, those fellows down in the village will be mightily disappointed when they see us, for the> were sure you had some special brand of fertilizer and we told tin in we could fini:iiit<-d. Then I shall use lime for a sweetener, for we ni>\> can afford the lime a little tinn- to work. Next ."summer when 1 am jnilting in a second and third ere] on the .same ground 1 shall probably use blood and bone or bone meal. Don't misunderstand me, 1 tliin^ eliemical fertilizers are bully for old worn out land, but it would be like 'carrying coals to Newcastl' to put it on this virgin .soil. The craze for chemical fertilizers has gone too far. There are plae> - where tlw-y have put it on s Hell him half a tun, they'll be much better off in the eni.les tif a row .ire eiillivaleil in llie liiiK- it lak.s |ini«l it took lonjjer, f.ir soniitiines luirklelierr.v rooK «onlioj;n>s, l»nt as time permilteil. all the rows were rakeil after enltivalinf;. wliieli ^ave the land a nnuli cleaner a|)|iearaiiee. In faet, tlie rakes uUaeiied to the cultivator mak«' ahoiit the hesl tool ima^jiiiahle for this work. Ted always called it liis "hiiln" and went whistling' down the rows, coverinj; the ^'round in truly remarkahle time. Kven I'ncle Hofjcr f,'ol so he could push one after his slow fashion, while we would see .Aunt Sophie steal from tlu- kitchen and riui him a race with one across the fit'ld. "^ou'all makes nu- tin-d f,'oiri' so sh)W wid dat ling, why don't you gil along." "Haw! haw I haw! Vou tiiik I'm a spring chicken, don' you know I gol de rhoumalis powerful had.' (io wan! " 'I'he s|)inach |>atcli ou acre iiumi>cr three was ready for Mike and tiie horses. It did not need plowing, .so he w«-nt over it with the horse cultivator live limes, with tiic leveii i-ondition, and this was not yt-l a .\<-arliug. This |)lantiui; of peas aixl lie.-ius was the third one of each. 'I'he first planting of peas you will r<-meml)cr \\<- saw on our walk to tin- d.-iir.w Th(-y matured vi-r_\' early, W(-re extremely dw.irf and the \ in«-s _\<-llowcd liadlv. It pu/./.h-d us nuicli to know the causi-. \\'c irrigat(-d (which no douKt saved tlu-ir lives during the drought of Ma.v) and we wood-aslu-d them. The second i)lanling on acre numher s«-ven w<'re lallt-r liul startetl to yellow also. ■■\\ell, it heals me," said llie Farmer, "what do you su|)pose makes it!' 'J'here is a palcli in th<- mieared. "John, liiose beans are up and you want lo get Bordeaux on them at once." ".Ml rigid, sir, shall I use it dry.^" "Not on your life! I'se il wet and soak 'em for fair. Fni going lo have some good beans ofT this place if it lakes a leg." In six mori- days they were wood-aslied and !iilled-up like the |)eas; in another two weeks they W(-re Bordeauxed again. The yield w:is perfect; beans in alumdanct', and while the other |)lantings had rect-ived as many a|)plii-ations of Bord<-aux wt- feel th(-y n(-<-d it when very small, as this dist-ase must be prevent«-d; il <-annol be cured. This |)atch one hundred and twenty-seven feet long and twenty-nine fe<-l wid(-, yielded twelve and oiu'-half bushels of slringle.ss and wax beans. Potato bugs and flea beetle were still making lace of |)olaloes and tomatoes whih- I lie (abbage wurm was kecjiing us very busy as well. By the fourteenth of Jun<- we women folk were picking |)cas for shipinent, while- Mike was pn-paring .icre niuMlicr ten for sweet potatoes. Il rccpiired much culiivating and leveling to get it into anything like »hi|)sha|)c condition. Ted was cultivating lettuce and w<-eding tin- strawberries. "Mother, what shall we do.^" ejnue small voices. "Help us pick p«-as, won't you.^" I answered. "(), yes, I'll help," sii'ul Hope and sIk- |>rom|>tly .sat down in the |)at(-h ann full of big outs disclosetl Inr cITorls. but then she does not t-art- for peas (-it her raw or cooked. That night the |)lants jirrived. Sweet potatoes, cauliflower, Bru.s.sels spn.uls. tomatoes, celery an.ss the fields, gave them water right 'il The Long Island "Home Hamper" A "Farm to Family Fresh" creation at No. 1 Hi nl hnnil- scon- mmilur two for llir irrifjalion system wliilc llic same lii;ave them water haiulv for mixing; fiinpeitles and insect ieitles to l>e applied in the far fields. Ai A hiukel of water to wliicli had Keen added a enpfnl of oatmeal and a sliced lemon, to removiP ' the flat tn.ste, was kept there for tlrinkin^' jmrposes. Krecpient drinks on hot days are n«'cessary, hut thcstoinaeh must he kept active lest the lilood rush to the head. The oatmeal water kce|)s Ihc stomach in just the j)roper etmdition. It does not look pretty to drink, and .some of them at first refused it. iiolieed, however, every hot day thereafter ciime the recpiest for oatmeal-watcr. On that .same day the diary .says: "( irasshojipers appi ared to sit upon the sweet p'tater vine. Turkeys now the only thin>,' lacking;." 'I'liat day ahout :t..jO() sweet j)otalo j)lanls went out. The next day dawned with warm heavy .sliowers; the men worked as he.st they could hetween them finishinj,' the sweets, while .Mike cultivateh ami delicious, packed in jiaratfin paper ready to be eaten the same day. Thai's what New York needs, fresh vegetables that ha\e not been on the road a week. Our own cauliflower and cabbage seedlings in the .seed-bed were well along by this lime. They were planted June fourth and were making sturdy growth for a late crop. (Jal)bage worms were after thi'in, however, .so Paris CJreen, and Hordeaux were ke|)l uiKin them. i''requent cultivatings \\;ith tli<' Planet Jr. (Ted loved to run through them just before he put the implement away) kept them growing steadily and helped devel<)|) a fine root .system. Some j)igs had been ordered in the early summer, but failed to arrive. We knew their vahit aji consumers of refuse and providers of fertilizers, l)esi our good friend of the ai)ple orchanl »4-nl two Poland (Jhinas. Hope named hers "Uosebud," while mine a.ssumcd the name of "Cecdw" in lionor of our good frieml. Karly peas were tak<-n out on the twenty-eighth and Mike j)repared the patch in the same maimei a.s he pursued with the spinach patch. The j)ea vines, by tin; way, were put into the compost heap. for this is one of the plants well worth .saving, giving back its accumulated nitrogen as it decompose- Hud •onditions permitted the vines wouhl have been jilowed under, but the ground was to. rough for that. ( eirry was planted on a portion of the space, while endive and turni|>s occupied the balance Kndive wa.s planted again, because tin- first .sowing, lacking sufficient cultivation, had rim u|) to .s«ed Three men and a rheumatic cm thirteen aen-s. We should have had a man to the acre to handle tli' crops |>roperly. A pretty expensive; proposition you will .say; iiol for a market ganhiier who raise- three aiir. Slif looked down and said in liaceo tt-a for the lonse (really an apliis covered with a >;ra.\i>h iuiiry siihstanee), dry powdered loliaceo, shij; shot, Hordeanx, I'aris (Jreeii and land |)la^ler mixed. i)nt nolhinK' .seemed to affect them. Won't some jjood chemist invent somethiiif,' to kill them.' We are beginning to fe<-l that the soil NJioiild lie poiNoiied. for nearly all tlavsc insects come from IIk- >;round. We had a most delijjhtful call ahoiil the middle of .Inly from a I'liiled States forester. lie |»nt new heart into u.s by confirming our n.se of rnamire ami wood ashes and saying we had the finest garden soil he had ever .seen. ■'.Mr. Knllertoii, if I shonid make soil with everything I conid want to do it with, I eonid not eipial vonr natural composition here. Man <-onld not make snch drainage, or loam in sncli ideal pro- portions of clay and sand as yon lia\e hen-. 1 liati no idea Long Island was such a wonderfnl spot. .\s for its trees I am simply carried aw.iy. Never in all my Iraxcls have I seen snch cinmps of seconti growth cheslnnt. If yon had told me there wj-re groii|>s of sexcii and eight all a foot tu foot and a half (hrongli. I woiiM not have believed yon." "Our trees theiiiMlves are not only woniK-rful to mc. i)nl the la.st variety is a.stonnding. Years iigo the sea captains brought home tri-es and shrnbs from fonign jxirts and many of them are now- native to the Island. I know a forest of .Ia|)an maples, swamps where magnolia trifolia grow, while foreign evergreens seem es|»ecially happy here," replied Mr. " Micklejohn." rpon further examination of cabbage and cauliflower aH'ected by blight, we fonnd in nine cases ont of ten root maggot had been at work. This pot is a difficult t>ne to light, bnt bisnli)hide of carbon injected by the root will kill them, while sMl|)hnr or wood ashes in the drill will kee|) them out. I must coiifos we fell better, I Would nuich ratluT light an insect than a disease any day. lAtln<-e was ready to come ont, it had been an interesting crop, full of failures. The majority of transplanted plants wi-nt up to seed. In drills tlii'y headed beautifully, teaching us the lesson that they must be thimied .severely and kept cultivated while young, that without irrigation during dry wt-ather it is u.seless to try to grow it. "Hut, gee whiz, it's hard to thin it enough," .said the book farmer, "I believe every seed sown came up." "Kxcuse me, Mr. Kullerlon," said Ted, "but at 'ome wf bake "alf the .seed before we plant it." " Hake it, what for.^" "So it can't come up, sir," he replied. "Then it isn't so thick." "(lood scln-enc, Ted, we'll just about try it next year." And the more we have planted the more we are (onvinced that snch things as lettuce, endive, beets, turnii)s and in fact any crop neeiling lliimiing should luive half the .seed "baked." Of all the varieties of K-ttute we tried, the "(ioldcn (^ueen" suited us best. Hrilliant in color, golden of heart, solid, crisp and mild flavored, while its tenderness exceeded any lettuce I have ever eaten. .\s the Farmer says, "Hig Hoston isn't in it." On a small irregular shaixd plot near the well, beans had come out as well as lettuce and the bean \ines had been burned sometime ago, aiithracnose was too dangerous to have around. .\ small amount of manure was s|)read because bciiig near the tower some soil from the well had been si)rt-ad upon it; this soil came from tot) great a depth to be productive. Wood ashes followed the manure, and Mike prepan-d the ground to receive summer radishes where the lettuce had been and summer lettuce where the iM-ans had been. .lohn drilled them in, and when the lettuce a[)pcarcd one variety K)oked more like tuniii)s than lettuce; further growth di.sclosed the fact it was turnip, a mixed seed from a reputable firm and tmt of a scaled package. Thus do<'s the farmer labor ag.'iinst great odds. With the exodus of .\unt So|)lii<' and Incle Roger, we were left with but three hands and crops coining in faster and bugs growing tlii<'ker every day. On the eightt-cnlh Dynamiter Kissam came again, for it had been decided to clear the remainder of the dairy. We had proof enough of the utter futility of the ancient method. The Dynamiter's appearaiK-c necessitated Italian help for him. The sprouts had grown so vigorously during the Sunnner, one would not have dreamed the land had been burned over last Fall. Then, too, man\ire for the iluiry and farm was coming, .is at this time of year it could be purchased at sixty cents a ttm. This, of course, had to be ludo.ided. Mike succeeded in getting two Italians, who jiroved on their arrival not to be .igriciilturists but .Ncapcdilans. They marched up to our wash-stand by the lower, helped tliem.selves to a glass of water and proceeded to 'I'hanksgi ving Cottage for dinner. Lime for l-'all use hail arrived, and they w they returned rigged ont in most gorgeous style, saying as their cousin luid died, they were about to return to Italy. They of course struck for pay for Saturday afternoon (having left on the noon train) but a good dose eantifnl large .smooth Farliest I'iiik, .uid ihe first cauliflower; both, ofconr.se, went to the Fairy (Jjiskrls piled ami l»rl\v<'<-ii showtTs wire |>ul up fur Iwrry ;infa patcli on acre iiiiiiiIxt tliDM-. John drilli-il in r<-<| top ami AlMTil('<-n turnips, 'IVil rut tin- lawn ami triiniM<';ht of this Fall. The .s«'ventli wa.s "niaile a piir|)ose for ns." Warm, west wind, overcast, just the day to make «ity chained at noon; a short 'survey of tlu- farm from the hou.se |)lot and they sat ;etahl«'s, nil from the land they had heeii afraid to have us ^i> inl(» a few months hefore. If I may take you with us a>;ain after dinner on a tour of the farm I will try to show you what they heheld. " ' The lawn more heaulifiil than ever, while oxalis in hlooin ahout tlu- trees, roses, sweet peas and colxM-as and other \ ines climhinj; upon the fence, jiorcli and tower; f^ladiolus in clumps and the nastur- tium nM)t pile a hia/.e of >;orf;eoiis hlossoms. Hulhous hogonias in riotous hloom o|)j)osite the tank tower and outdoor wash-stand where "root anth-r.s" .serve as a towel rack, j)ast the house and Ciovern- iiu-nt plot to tln' turn in the drive. Aloufj; the chiet us pause here a moment. Mike had hrought one in during diiuier measuring with its leaves still on, forty-two inches in diamet<'r. The exclamation arose, "How did you do it, I'ullerton? Vou certainly must have set up nights with that fellow!" "There arc plenty more in the field," lie replied, hut they were hardl.\ convinced. Here hefore us is a patcli containing many of equal size, while the entire growth is way above the average. "My goodness, how did you raise those melons?" broke from one of lln' part,\-. "I never saw such a set in my life. I'm coming out again when they're ripe." "The prophecy is thi-y will not be sweet, because the soil is a little heavy," said the "show guide." " IJut if there are any good I see our finish trying to pick and shij) them." "You'll have your hands full, all right," they n'i)lied. Potatoes, carrots, beans, peas, parsnips, cauliflower, salsify, sprouts, all on the way to the d.iiry, c.'dled forth applause. " lly jingo. Fullerlon, that's afalfa. isn't it?" exclaimed one who is considered one of the best .ifalfa experts in the I'nitcd States. " ^'ou don't mean to tell me you |)lanled that this year." " ^ fs, sir, the first day of June. AVhat do you think of it?" the farmer asked. "Think of it! Why it's the best I have ever seen, no matter of what age. Why. man alive, that's here to stay and the bacteria are at work all right, all right." "(iolly. this part," as we walked toward till' top dressed quarter, "knocks the slulfiii' out of anything else I have ever seen. Mow dill you do it?" "Had the .soil alkali." rei)lied the hook farmer, "and we didn't guess about it either, wc to«ik a very small pi«'<'e of litmus p.ipcr and a handful of soil and found out." "Well. sir. you've done the best and biggest thing that has been done for the Kastern Stsites in many a year," rejilied another. Here to tlie left is teosinte, a new crop to some of them and one that called forth much admiration. Its broad leaves, shortness of stalk ami luxuriant growth api)ealcd to any man interested in silage. .\nd the millet, which had been a light green sea of beauty all the season was now shouhler high and blossoming with a soft long brown "hiill-riish-like" tassel. This (ield showed more plainly than any other spot on the whole cleared acreage, where the bonfires had been; not only diti it show the effcj-ts of the ashes in height, but in density of color. The field of fodder crorn calls for further exclamations. " l''ullerton, that's the Ix'st corn I've seen this season." said one guest, who travels much in the iiili-nvst of agriculture. "What did you leave so many stalks to the hill for?" "This was |)laiited for fodder, old man, but 'I'cnnsy millions' failed to buy us time enough to it a silo up in which to put it, .so I had to let it grow," an.swered the Senior Partner. "That sorghum is no sloiuh either," replied another. "(lee whillican-s!" exclaimed a third, "where did you get this?" as we oaiiie to the Virginia horse tean pole yourself and yun look like an infant in there." 'Man iangtingc is often more forceful than complimentary). "\Vlial will that he when it's done? Wliy this is only early August, it has another good two ri-riths yet," .s.ii 1 a third. 'Ue'ri' hoping for .sixteen feet and to he able to mature it." .said 1. " \Nell, you have a record now," was the reply, "no matter what happens to it in the future" ''Dynamiter Kiii.sain is working here and li<''ll blow a few stumps and .some trees for you if you *ant." .Miid the farmer. "There's a g(»od big chestnut six feet through and he will blow it by battery." / 11// } (swx^--r] ji i^ux^ec^ f' )^^ y* - -v Oudo <5.t5>T .clA-SxXJrj^ ,^rc)J-j2ri^2.--^^ jex CUccj<.oi±; '^"^^°'^:. ?A/"€''v^^ V'V'-v- 0-v>_ jtiUs, oJ-'te^ i The Menu "nil. pliiiM- iiiayn't I?" I (XtlaiiiH-.l. ami \v(»miiiilikc, I lia.l my way. My lint it was a "lK'aiil> l.low '* (Ihafs It'cliniral). Slu- came out cK-aii, aiul piwos wiiil way ovir iiilo llit- rom. "Wc'n- p)iiin l<> takr out soino of tin-so piiu's, wo want a ft-w as shadi- aptdony for tin- cattj.' l)Ul tlifsr tlinv oxtcinl too far oast." "An- voii n'aer two the same way, Mr. Fnllertoiii'" aske;iiest. "Ten aires are cleared, the dynamiter has just come over from there," he'rejilied. "How many aen-s hav<- yon in that jjiece!-'" "Ki^'htv. It was the smallest we could huy. Ten of it will lie markel-f,'ard<'n ami for the- .seveiil> we are considering' a plan to reforest ami ^row railro.id tiiiilMr. .\ thirty-foot (ire strip to i-he<-k I' ' animal liiirn-over permitted hy tlioiif,'hlle>s or careless owners, will he cleared all around it ami tip we will >;row corn and siieh crops to pay for the clearing. Then all K""'d specimens of oak and cIm nuts and enough piiicN and umlerlirush to >,'ive forest environment will he left. We think of plaiitim: Kiiropean larch, ami will hlow a hole to j)lanl them in. Of course these trees want a prote( iinderfirowth just as all forest tn-es re(|uire, so we will do no ('learinf;," saiil the farmer. "What do you mean liy hlowinj; a hole, Mr. Fullcrton?" " Whv it struck me one day it would hcaj,' 1 sijilit easier aiirl cheaper to l»low a ImK- with a eh,n . of dvnamite than try to dij; one in that m<-ss of undert,'rowth ami roots, so Charlie and 1 went over ii the wimmIs yonder and inserted a (juarter of a pound at a forty-live deforce an;,'le ahoiil tw(» feel ltd the surface". She tore ii)) a hole two and a half to three feel in di.imeler. leaving perfectly pulvcri. .soil fiillv tw.i feet deej) in which to plant a tree. By pulliiif,' the charjre in a little Hatter we seciii. even l»"ller results. With a helper Kissain , and we arc again back to the e.isl of the house, where the tiny ever-blooming ro.ses are making a good headway. Down into tlie cellar wc u.sher our guests, where the transverse section of the .soil calls forth freslil exclamations of delight and wlightly trimmed, beans packed with parallincd papi-r to prevent spilling, cabbage trimmed and thoroughly washeil, loinaloes polished, carrot- ami onions cleansed ami trimmef NumlicrOne for the lalx-l that goes on our packages we wish .synonymous with "llic best that can be pnKluceil." .\.H an illustralioi) of wlial a man can do in u day, the following from the ninth is fair: "Mike Bordeaiixed and I'aris (irecned all melons, sprouts, early cauliflower and cabbage, also >'J £ cultivutiHl nearly all of acres ei(,'lit iiml nine" Mikr also liail cut ire care of the liorses and was our chief lielp in tin- packing. For (lays llic wcatluT had heen overcast, hot and moist, trno holhonsc weather. The morning; of the tenth it seemed as thou^di our entire hopt-s were to he hlasted. I think I can fjive you nothinc more vivial)ly l>c<'ause of one day's ah.sence caused l»y hospital visit on account of my hall and socket joint knee, made mc feel that details should Ik- riH-orded for your log hook of Numl)<'r Oiu-. ■"riie Might imported with ccK-riac from l)ig conuucrcial |)Iaiil growers has extended to fine, healthy cauliflowers, S'limixT One. grown from seed. In spite of almo>t daily personal attention and care there is hardly a li<;id of eitii it midcr continual oiiscrvation. that docs not show aiiylliing from slight injury to absolute «lcstruction from tiiis very serious imported hlight. The long continuing overcast Turkish- hath wi'ather has sent the shallots into a wceily-like growth reseml)ling closely marsh grass etfeet. Peppers jire apj)arently tlu- only things that are truly ha])i)y. Summi-r lettuce lately j)lanted is making a weedy growth, with the cxce|)tion of one variety which came up turnips, a mixture I understand skilfully concocted l>y a discharged foreman of one of our .\merican seedsmen wlio carricil out exactly the .same methods of revenge ]iursuc(l hy a supcrinltMident of a (icrman house who succeeded in absolute- ly ilestroying all landscape gardening effects in Hurope and America where nasturtiums were part of the color scheme. N'arious summer radishes lately j)lanted look more like foilage plants than vegetables. ( orn, of <'onrse, is supremely liapi)y. In the cabbage patch acre number two im|)ortcd plants, the growth of black rot and fuzzy cabi)age louse is far superior in vigor to the cal)i)age plant itself. Our splendid stand of kohl-rabi has been infected from the cabbage just east of it through the medium of our fre- quently prevailing northeast winds. In order to .save them, we shall ship all we have at once. The finest lot of kale that I have cvi-r .seen even about Long Island City has also been atfected by im|)orted bla<'k rot and louse .so that it nuist be cut and shi|)ped immediately in order to pull out all we can. TIk' carrots, both first anil .second |)lanting. are paying ijcautifuUy. The shell beans, although as erratic in growth and set as elsewhere according to reports throughout the l'nit<'d States, show freedom from anfhracnose and other l>lights, i)L'cause of continual and early use of Bordeaux. Turnips planted July twentieth appi-ar to be in line condition. Salsify ami scorzonera show up superbly. The ti])s of the sjilsify leaves are shrivelled and black aner two. The cabbage .set out in acre number three has done marvelously well, yielding a very large percentage of not only marketable but very large .solid heads. First planting of onions still reminds one very much of a shave with a dull razor. The beets, because late germination-, have somewhat ea light up and t raMN[)lan tings have helped out broken rows, are growing thriftily ank ninety ].er '\ if-/ ' } i ,jl^ ...,.i^f 'Home Hamper" fillers ? IjiI«' loinaliM's an- lioMin;; up well. K^milaiits willi tlic aid of a larp" assort iiifiit c»t IiiiiiiIiIcIm-cs. an •wMtlin^' rfiiiarkal>ly well. Soiiu" of tin- lal«- lomaloi-s arc a|)parfiilly k»'c|)iiif{ in style liy rotting; fron the proiintl u|). "\\v lifo partiiors have in pnn^ ovt-r acres «'if;lit, nine and ton inil>i))od a voj;ftal)le mint-julip cm rocktnil acconlinf; to one's early environment, llie late eal)l>af»«'s, red, curly-leafed and rcfjiilnr; tin MriisM'ls sprouts, and tlie late ( auiitlower. wliich are as niajcniliccul as anyone could possihiy see (K'casioiudly there is an atfcclcd leaf, wliicli to us sliows tlial the spores from the importcil plants liavi Ixfn wafted their way. nordathprp;lit up with the unso.ikcd rows. The test mannrjs are doiim' splendidly. The Maik Mexican su^'ar corn is in l.issei. and sliowiri),' up well. Second planting' of eariy corn all well and maile ipiite an even staml throughout. In si>ite of fre(|uent showers and nst r.it cd the ne<-essity for frc(|nent a|)i)li< at ions of flm^'icides and insect icides. and that it uu(|uestional>ly pa\ s to use l>oth llirouf,'li the Ncry earliest pcrioil of plant j;rowth. Tin- nwt'.ssity for a sprayman even on a market-Rarden of only ten acres is ])roven conclusively and nc year if you approve, one man will he assipned solely to this work, with instructions to kee[) up an endli ronml in a methodical manner, .so that no plot may be overlooked and further to he careful to make a .spraying tour directly after a storm. Have had a jjarlicularly pood man to handle this part of the • work, liut till- setting out and cultivation many times forced us to leave alone plots showing up thriftily and without si^ns of coming,' disaster. It was most unfortunate that we were uii;d>le. Iiccause of a preat di-al of new work to he done which will not need tlioUfilil next year or labor, to raise every plant f'-- Number One. We iiu|)orled a pri-at nu|uber of insects in \arious forms and cerlaiidy two of the um • lanp-rous ami rare lili>;lits and fuufjous fjrowths and undoubtedly others of lesser moment. One lliii we shall ur>;c most stroiif^ly in pamphlet, which is now well alonj;. is that nothing; be planted in this uiw gromid but the Ix-sl of s<-ed from strictly reliable firms and that under no circumstances should plant- lie .seping and testing it to see if he could not find one ri])c. ".Mr. l'"ullcrton, try different insecticides around some of the \ines about the roots and let's si.- if wi- cannot save them. My, it would be a shame to lose that melon field." he .said. So we made tl following applications. Going .-cross the field from east to west and taking three rows at a time, tir- brought each test upon each variety of melon. 1st three rows lime an«l III pi rfeelion, \\\r leaves renuiiuing on while the stem is .still green. Horse Te\ >sill almost bn^ak his harness to gi I noiih-, while Muckeyj- disdains even to notice it. t'prn ^saa now a ilaily diet in our liou.sehold. Of course we tried every variety of everylhii a* Fine Tobacco at both No. 1 aim .No. t prown. hut iiotliinR nms.-il su

lira.seolony, "it's the earliest, ugliest, smallest, sweetest corn that grov If you onee taste it you won't want any t>ther." "I'is extremely yellow, therefore not popular wiHi tradesmen, hut a deeideilly good crop for home hampers. Italians were .sent into tlie tomatoes to j)iik every morning now. for it requireil two and som.M times three of us a good part of the day packing \arilant. corn and lieans, kept all iiamls i)n'tty busy. We were informed by one of our lluiiliiigton neighbors tiiat a little excursion had been planned from that point to the Farm for the (ifleenth. (dad we were t(. hear it, for wc were anxious to have more peo|)le si-e and Ix-lieve the stories of the wonderful growth. For th<'ir l)eriefit we had arrangiii part of the day's j)iek on the front porch anink, retl. large and small yellowsl cauliflower, one cabbage weighing when stripped for mar- ket, fifteen |)ounds. beets, lant is attem|>ted.'* The "bees" remind me of everyone's query when they saw the "weather bureau" (where tlie ma,ximuni and minimum thermometers are housed). "O, do you keep bees?" "Yes, but not tame ones, we coaxed Ihcm by strong colored flowers. They come for them and are daily visitors. We intended having a hive but have not come to it yet. Still our honey friends have done all the work necessary," wc would reply. For some time the children declared, "we took the weather out" every morning when the ther- mometers were read. The "little birthday excursion" (for it was the Farmer's birthday) numbered ninety-four and wc felt as though the good news would travel far when they left the farm. I was showing friends over the j)lace and ex|)laining operations how this crop was the second on that groimd, that, the third; explaining how it was all done with no commercial fertilizer and but little help. We came to the dairy where we met an old man who had preceded us; he was returning from reviewing the fodder corn, and I said: "Well, what do you think of it.^" .\nd of course I was swelling with pride. "Humph!" he replied. "I don't think much of that there corn; it ain't got no cars." .Vnd - he was referring to sorghum, I could but be amused, as sorghum bears its seeds on its tassel. "This here's that there new thing they call alfalfy, ain't it?" he asked. "No, sir," I replied, "that is Jai)anese millet; but this is alfalfa," as I showed it to him. "Japanese millet! We di. into this field. Young carrots were .somewhat in demand in the market in mid-.\ugust, so we decidctl to dig : I'' of the early planting and ship them. The second jjlanling was by this time providing for home ham|ii John look the wheelbarrow and the corn in two hours, brought in two bushels and one wheel- barrow load of squash in forty minutes." 1 might insert here the "crate incident." On the seventeenth day of July a half car-load of packages in "knock down" shape arrived, they were stacked up by the barn and everyone except Mike exclaimed: " Where do you intend to store them all winter; they will last a couple of years." "() no, Mr. Fuller', you need more than him this year," Mike .said, "I know you wait till cabbage and Hruss' sprout' ready." "Why, Mike, we'll never fill those in the world," I said. "You wait see, Mes Fuller'." He was right, many a message has gone forth this summer "for goodness sake rush packages as much as you can, crops are spoiling for want of them." But many barrels alas, are lying empty! Kale had been shipped two days previously, the plot thirty-one by thirty-nine feet yielded 355 heads, the last shipment filling three barrels. The kohl-rabi, from seed from North China, yielded 14-1 ' roots and the space occupied by them after being set out was thirty-one by fourteen feet. These "rabis" differed in no way from the kind usually raised here as far as we could see. The night of the twenty-second it stormed, so the Italians were sent over the cabbage, cauliflower I and sprouts again the next day. In fact it .seemed that a spraying day was invariably followed by rain. I There were times when "Fullerton luck" did not hold good. / Endive was tied up when thoroughly dry, this must never be done when the plants ar damp for it is intensely susceptible to rot. The field was the quaintest "Dutchest" thing imaginable when the I men were through. i "Fullerton luck" brought a thunder storm the next night so there was nothing to do but spray I again the following day. We went to the field in the early morning as was our habit and the sight that I met us w as enough to make the heart sick, leavfes turned black and yellow with blight insects so thick they j positively looked crowded. "What shall we do?" we exclaimed, "the pride of our hearts and the portion to bring in the great- est returns going before our eyes ! It surely cannot be our fault, or from any neglect." "Mes Fuller'," said Mike, "about every five year, the cauliflower he go so, you can't save him, I know, I grow him many year." "Should we have sprayed more Mike.'" I asked. "Mah gah, Mes Fuller' we pass this field about eight times already and two times be enough. This year, you can't help him," he replied. "Well, if this is the year we have him for fair," said the Senior Partner. "Mike, tell Tony to go over again, this time dust on tobacco dust and slug shot mixed half and half. Then let Martin and Pedro pick all infected leaves and the entire plant, where they are bad, and bring them up to the barn to be burned. We'll save the balance of them if we can." The i)lants and leaves were taken to the barn plot, but we could not burn then green and con- sidered tli(>ni too dangerous to leave until dry. "Mike, tell the Italians to dig a hole li(>re and bury that stuff," said the farmer. He watched operations closely and when they had tossed in a good layer of leaves he iiad them s])read it thick with hme, another layer of leaves, again lime, until all were .safely interred. I have no doubt that will be a rich spot next year. Eleven times those fields were "passed" and there is nothing to show for it. Not a cauliflower and but few perfect cabbages and it is doubtful if we get any sprouts. The latter are .set and hard and the plants are laden, but the louse has discolored them so badly they would not pay for the jMcking. The plants average one quart of sprouts each and as there were 5,-21 1 plants set out, the loss can be safely estimated at 5,000 quarts. During mid-winter these bring from twelve to thirty cents a quart. I guess I won't figure what we might have made for there is no use crying over si)illed milk and we have not trusted all the eggs to one basket; a diversity of cro])s is deep wisih)m for those who ileal with Dame Nature at first hand. Man as yet cannot foretell the season's wet or dry characteristics, therefore it is [most unwise to rely on one species alone, a season fatal to one vegetable a.ssures a phenomenal yield of another. Our only consolation, if consolation it can be called, is that all experts and old farmers have suffered the same loss this season. I "What is the cause?" I asked one visitor from the east end of the Lsland, who always has a large I acreage of these special crops. J,. "Why that damp warm weather started the rot," he repHcd, "and then I think last winter was so warm and open all the bugs lived througli and we have a jiarticularly choice assortment this season." "Well, it's thoroughly discouraging," I said, "to work so hard and have the crop come almost to maturity and then die before your very eyes, while you are i)owerless to save it." "Yes! Yes! It certainly is," was his rejoinder, but he said it in a way that showed it was not the first time he had met such defeat. The spinach was given a good dose of liquid manure as a tonic at this trying season of the year and it later amply repaid the labor. The tomatoes had received their last cultivation July tenth and crimson clover was broadcasted and harrowed in. It carne up in four days and by mid-August the field was a mat of green, while the four-leaved ones among it were Hope's delight. Many a day she has come in with sixteen fours, a goodly number of fives and sometimes a six-leaf. Clover was now sowed wherever a crop came out, the early cabbage patch received it August twenty-seventh, while early September showed many other patches covered with cither this or vetch, or sainfoin, or alsike. Manure, lime and ashes were spread and cultivated in before these nitrogen gatherers were st)wn, for they will be allowed to remain all winter and turned under for green manure next spring. It takes but little time and costs but little money to sow these crops and they render untold good to the soil. By the thirtieth endive was ready to gather. Those that had been tied (and they must be well grown before tying) were out, the ratfia removed and thoroughly washed. The hearts were blanched as prettily as could be and thirteen bushel baskets were made ready for morning shipment. All things that left the farm in the morning were picked the night before, sprayed and allowed to remain out in the night air unpacked until morning. The consequence was such things as lettuce, endive and spinach were as crisp as possible, for these plants wilt immediately after picking, but quickly revive if watered and placed in the shade. When the returns came from the commission merchant they read — "baskets of chicory." " Well, if the big New York dealers don't know endive from chicory, don't let's grow it any more," I said. "I guess we have other things to do," replied the Farmer, "Let's try romaine and escarole next year, just a little to see if they know what that is, they are easier to grow than endive because they need no tying." The last day of August, our last at the farm ! To-morrow would see a new era, for we must return to the dear old home to get ready for school days. John had become converted to market-gardening and he had bought himself eight acres of land and went to prepare it for Spring work, while Mike moved his entire family to No. 1 to remain for the rest of the winter. A Western visitor gave us a feeling of satisfaction. There arrived in the afternoon a gentleman from Indiana, a total stranger, who said he had heard of the Station and would like, with our permission, to look over it. "Mr. Micklejohn," for the Farmer was still pretty lame, made him welcome and escorted him on a tour of inspection. "Well," said our visitor, "I'll tell you, Mr. FuUerton, I've been traveling for a year and a half to find just the place I want for a farm. I started in Texas and I have been to every State Experimental Station in the Union and this beats anything I have ever seen. It is the most practical, the best looking and the most educational of any, and I don't see how you have done it in a year." "It's the soil. Old Man," (all Westerners call each other Old Man, it seems to give them great satisfaction) "soil and climate, you can't beat it!" said the Farmer. "Come down in the cellar and see what we have," and he showed him the now famous cellar wall giving the strata of the earth's construc- tion. "This suits me," he said, "my weary search is over. But there is something more here than soil in which to grow vegetables, your island is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, the unex- pected views and beauty spots make it a continual surprise. Why, those lakes just to the south of you are gems, and the eyes of man have hardly rested upon them, I suppose." "Right you are, and there are 200,000 acres of this virgin soil lying idle just waiting for a helping hand to give New Y'ork its fresh food." "Well, I'll make a prophecy, it won't be many years before there is precious little of it lying idle, and I, for one, am going in to help you. I want a good big farm and I'm going to buy it next week," he said. " By the way, I hear you have another Station at Medford, what do you think of that section, soil's pretty light, isn't it.''" "Lighter than this," replied the Senior Partner, "but deeper. The surface is drifted over with white sea-sand and we supposed we would find soil a foot and a half at the deepest. When they were clearing they dug a cellar under a shack, in which to store dynamite, and we found the soil four feet deep. You could have knocked rae down with a feather, for no one is more enthusiastic about the Island than I, but I never supposed there was four feet of good soil in that section." " Well, it only goes to show mighty few people know much about the land they live in," he said. "May I bring some friends in a few days to see the place, they will think I have lost my head when I tell them about it, so I want to show it to them.'' " "Sure thing! bring as many as you want and come as often as j^ou wish, and stay as long as you like. Always glad to see you," was the rejoinder. Dynamiter Kissam had been called away, so that but one acre of the dairy had been cleared, he was to return when he could and finish the piece for we were anxious to get rye in this fall. Our "BifgcsL Girl Jai);iii's Bi{,'f,'>'sL Radish Autumn THE first of Sei)tt"ml)fr saw tlie cliildrcn and myself off to IViinsylvaiiia for a tVw days. They had been "good as pie" all suminer and often when father and mother were too burdened to be pleasant they had had dull times. Rides were their great joy and they always went to the depot with shipments; but companionship of their age was lacking and it was time they had a "vacation." Such a glorious one they had with a bunch of cousins; pillow fights, early morning squeals, romps and picnics. With the aid of records kept at various times by the stenographer, Mike, Walter and Martha (Mike's eldest daughter), I give you the fall work. Sunday the second records the picking of the first melon, a Long Island beauty. The Italians were pressed into service more now for John's going left a hole in the force. Tomatoes were coming thicker than ever and I remember asking Mike on my return from a day's visit: "Any tomatoes yet, Mike?" "My gah, yes. Miss Fuller', we shij) forty-one crates this morning." "Forty-one crates! Goodness, that must have been some tomatoes, how many culls?" "Eight bushel, I give 'em to section hands and train crews, they like 'em," he answered. No wonder the diary records "two Italians picking tomatoes one-half day." Sugar corn that had been gathered was cut and stacked and the land prepared for a legume. Barrels had to be unloaded and stacked, for we still had hojjcs of gathering some cabbage and cauli- flower, while sweet potatoes held out the promise of an abundant yield. More endive was ready for shijiment on the sixth and the diary records: "Washed and picked six barrels of cabbage, eleven l)ushels of endive, also some carrots and l)eets." Tony showing the greatest aptitude for market-gardening, was given the more particular work and he soon took John's place in helping Mike with the packing. Walter, the boy, had become quite proficient in many ways, and for a lad of fourteen shows good signs of a budtling farmer. On the sixth the Assistant United States Agrostologist visited the farm to see the alfalfa. .Vs a test had been made for the Government at their special request, they were naturally much interested. His verdict coincided with others already given and he further said upon examining the roots and seeing the nitrogen nodules, that Long Island virgin soil must contain the needed bacteria, for the largest nodules found were on the uninoculatetl section. That the bacteria was at home and at work in all sections he felt was true without a doubt, ami he further preilicted that "next year you will not be able to tell one quarter from another." The tenth records the shipment of five crates of melons, and from that time on we could not com- pete with the field, the yield was too great. The projjhecy held for them came true, they were not as sweet as we had hoped, l)ut like cauliflower this was an off year, entirely too wet and really good melons were as "scarce as hen's teclh." I give you here a letter to Mr. Peters on the subject: "Mr. Ralph Peters, Prea., Long Island Tily. "Deiir Sir: — The wcjither, \vhi<'h seiil llii' llMTiiioiiirlcr dnwTi lo forty ;iinl c np our melons ami furlber weakened the vilalily of Ihe vines lo a marked extent. 'WadinK River. Lon« Island, N. Y.. " September 10, 1006. even a Irille lielow nisjht after ni)?hl, held The striped lieelle, whieli has been our hardest nut to crack, true to the usual procedure, appeared late in August in immense numbers. This was a time when he could only be fought with severe damage, not only to the vines but the melons themselves, ami in spite of the greatest of care and most thorough work they succeeded in laying eggs in great iiuantities. The beetle itself and its 'maggot' not only attacks the vines, but it attacks the melons themselves as it does cucumbers and squashes. While they are seldom able to injure, or in fact penetrate the interior, they certainly spoil the appearance of the melon and in many cases where they happen to work close to the juncture of the vine, they partly cut olf the sustenance supply and cheek growth and ripening considerably. We have a big lot of melons of excellent quality, but they do not look right. I went into the city on Thursday afternoon, Friday and Saturday, and found that, without exception, both Jersey and Southern melons had been attacked in exactly the same way as melons on No. 1. I also found that Rocky Fords were coming in with mutilated skin coverings. At the Delaware Water Gap when I went to bring home my family, I found exactly the same state of affairs existing with every melon I could discover. A few of them were native, most of them were coming from .Jersey, Colorado and the South. Nevertheless, in spite of the scientific explanation that there are certain seasons when the natural enemy of our insect pests are entirely absent, or present in numbers so small that they do not exert any apparent influence and man alone cannot cope with them, we have no hesitancy in saying that we will prevent this marking another year and base this egotistic statement on the results of our experi- ments, which, although started late in the season, will show conclusively that the aftermath of the striped beetle need not be feared if toljacco is used freely, particularly, about the melon hills, etc. "Yours truly, "H. B. Fullerton, "Special Agent. On the eleventh "we two" went to the farm for the nij^ht, for the following day we were to receive a delegation of dairymen to view the farm's successes and failures. For their benefit we placed upon the porch a bale of alfalfa and a bunch of plants (roots and all) from each quarter section. They seemed wonderfully pleased with the successes attained and one of them upon examining the root nodules, said: " May I take some of these home with me.' We have tried for three years to raise alfalfa at our dairy and we cannot get a nodule or get the plant to live over winter. It is a remarkable showing this section has made and I congratulate you most heartily." No less interesting to them were the other fodder crops and they were as surpri.sed at the V'irginia horse tooth as any one else had been. By this time it had grown to fifteen and one-half feet, with the ' ears, seven and eight feet from the ground. I A six-footer stood among it holding an umbrella in his upstretched hand and the tip of the um- ■ brella could not touch the tassel. The Suffolk County Fair opened on the seventeenth and much time was consumed in making ready. A little portable house, the same size as the one we had been living in, was erected on the fair : grounds, and for some time we had been preparing and framing photographs of the farm's development, to hang upon the walls. Sunday the sixteenth took us all to the farm again, giving to the children a , good treat, for they really had grown very fond of the place, and to us another busy Sunday. Being "Suffolk Countyites" we are allowed to enter vegetables for competition and strange to I relate, the yearling farm won eleven first prizes, six seconds and an honorary mention. The portable j had its miniature sign by the front door flanked by teosinte and backed by Virginia horse tooth, the I interior had one room finished as a bed-room, while the others had tables loaded down with vegetables i of various sorts. There was a goodly showing for the time of year, lettuce, endive, summer and spring I radishes, beets, onions, carrots, parsnips, salsify, beans, sugar corn, tomatoes, squash, marrow, canta- .' loupes, watermelons, mangels, sugar beets, pe-tsai, and sakurajima, potatoes, sweet and white, cabbage, I sprouts and peanuts, alfalfa, millet, corn, sorghum and teosinte. \ The little cottage was crowded with visitors every day, some from curiosity, some from real ] interest, many came back a second and third time, becoming so absorbed in the subject we would often \ talk for hours. I "These are scrub oak vegetables, raised in one year without the use of commercial fertilizer," ijwe would say. j "Oh, I don't know about that," would come the rejoinder. "Then I'll tell you," and the whole story of the farm's history would be repeated. No one who (heard or saw it as I have tried to relate it in these pages, but saw the logic in the venture, and many an j agriculturist had new heart put into him from the long chat, while without a doubt we received as good las we gave. I They contended, those who had not farmed, that ten tons of manure to the acre was "a heap of I fertilizer." I would like to quote here from the American Agriculturinl of recent date. The extract is from an article on raising melons in another state and the quantities used are for one acre. \ " In the Fall is spread twenty tons of stable manure free of stalks and straw (this would equal I' thirty to forty tons of ordinary manure). " 1000 pounds high grade Carolina phosphate rock. "300 pounds high grade sulphate of potash. "This is harrowed in and I sow twelve to fifteen quarts of crimson clover to be plowed under in April. I then sow 1000 pounds complete fertilizer (formula two per cent, nitrogen and four per cent, phosphoric acid and ten per cent, potash)." This surely dwarfs ten tons strawy manure into insignificance. The second morning of the fair, a carriage full of visitors drove up to the door and an east-end ;neighbor, who had visited the farm in the early summer alighted, bearing several large l)ouquets of asters and dahlias. He brought them with the thought they might help brighten our exhibit. In reality they were a peace offering. I relate the incident as one which to us was full of glee. During his visit to the farm he espied the newly set out celery plants. "Your farm's all right, Mr. Fullerton, but what did you plant that for.'" "Celery.' Wliy not?" said tlie Senior Partner. "Why not.' Because you can't raise it here and there's no use trying," he replied. "Do you raise celery?" asked the Book Farmer. "Um!" as our guest nodded his head. "Exhibit at the Riverhead Fair?" "Um!" again as he acquiesced. "Well, so do we, and if you win a prize this year you'll know it, for you'll have to work overtime." A smile broke over his face and he clapped the "gude mon" on the shoulder, saying: "Fullerton, you think the Island will grow anything under the sun, don't you?" But his expression said, "He's an enthusiastic youngster (the said 'gude mon' being some years his senior) but he'll get over it." We exhibited celery at the fair and won second prize. Therefore the flowers. One afternoon I was standing in the bedroom door tired from the day's exertions (the Senior Partner was away that day holding another exhibit at an agricultural gathering). The house was crowded with visitors, among them some Irishmen. One large, portly man said: " Och, come on out, they know what to put in their fields." "What did we put on the fields?" I flared up, supposing, of course, that he referred to a high- priced fertilizer. "Shure an' didn't they have you in the fields! Sure, I'd worruk meself if you was out there!" I blush to tell the story, but it is too good to keep, that was the time my zeal for the farm got nie into hot water. In our beloved home town, the Horticultural and Agricultural Association held an exhibition and they particularly requested a showing from the farm, sending us entry blanks for competition. We were glad to help and filled out the blanks with twenty entries. As this took place during the Riverhcad Fair week, the Senior Partner left me late one evening, drove the twelve miles to the farm, gathered and packed crops all night and took them in to the exhibition the next morning. The farm's showing was as pretty as could be, its greatest attraction in one sense being a basket of dainty miniature vegetables from the children's garden. Their plantings had been made very late and in the shade which tended to dwarf them, but under the circumstances seemed very apropos; as at other exhibitions people wondered whether the corn was not spliced, while the high quality coupled with the extensive variety attracted much attention. When the Farmer returned to Riverhead I eagerly asked the news, meaning, of course, what prizes had we won. "Nothing doing," he said, "they seemed to think it was honor enough to be allowed to exhibit fifty varieties and would not allow our stuff in competition. I guess the next time I 'help out' I'll think twice before I work all night doing it." "That hurts," I replied. "If it were outsiders we could speak our mind, but that touches the quick." At the Mineola Fair where the exhibit looked even prettier than at Riverhead, the Senior Partner had an odd experience. A gentleman came in and said, "How are you Mr. Fullerton; I've been looking for you and asked a man if he could tell me where to find your exhibit. 'There's the whole d humbug over there,' he said, so here I am." "Where's the man," said the Railroad Farmer, "and what's the matter with him?" "He's outside now looking at that corn to see where it's spliced. He says you didn't raise the things and if you did you had five tons of commercial fertilizer to the acre," replied the visitor. The Senior Partner stumped out under full head of steam and the following wafted in the window: Jk" Howdy, neighbor! Hear you don't believe we raised this stuff without commercial fertilizer, ril'tell you what I'll do. I'll give you $1,000 for every ton we used on every acre of the ten, and if you don't think my personal check is good, I'm sure President Peters will be glad to back me; in fact, I'm not sure but he'll raise it a $1,000 or so for every ton we used and I mean it," he reiterated. "At your figures that would be $50,000 sure money, at least, and you had better start in at once. Here's the name of the man we bought everything from in the way of fertilizer, that will start you right and I quick." I The stranger had nothing more to say, but left the exhibit at once and I doubt very much if he I is hunting for the fertilizer. I Among our visitors at the latter fair were many market gardeners (all of whom were most compli- ( mentary about the produce and felt the Experimental Station had done them a personal favor in open- j ing up a territory that had so long been looked upon as valueless and not even considered. Many of them were forced to give up their farms near the city, as price of land and taxation was too high to I compete with longer, and big figures were being paid for their acres. They now felt a promised land 1 was open and they would come out into "Suffolk." j Many of our vegetables at the fairs proved tempting, especially the black radishes to the Germans, while a pile of very large sweet potatoes near a door disappeared mysteriously. One portly lady was seen walking across the grounds with a large yellow potato hugged lovingly against a black silk dress. To quote Kipling, " it showed up like a ripe banana in a smoke house." It was particularly fascinating to watch the interest shown in the various varieties. Without a doubt the one bale of alfalfa, together with the photographs picturing the work in the field from inocu- lation of seed up to and including the harvest, caused more comment than anything else there. Interest 'in it was shown by young and old, and in fact the younger men seemed the most eager to know how to I grow it successfully. A lad of about eighteen became so engrossed in it and the other farm products, that he spent a ! whole morning in the building; while a boy nearer fourteen said, "I'm going to make niy father grow jthat if I can." It well repaid us the long days and incessant talk to see the keen awakening of the bud- Iding agriculturists. 1 Women, of course, showed more interest in "garden sass," especially in tlie niartynias. large fradishes, including the twelve pound Sakurajima and the Pe-tsai. Request after request was made for jthe names "written down so I won't forget" and I doubt not many little gardens will gro\v them inext year. One t;cntlrimin spent iiiucli time over tlio fxhil)it, went iiwiiy ami relumed shortly, with Iw i| eompanioiis. They pnsscd sileiitl\ around nuting every detail and iinally one of them broke forth: "They'\f utii. Jersey l>eat to deatlil" That was a dniuf;ht of nectar to we "book fanners." Ted l>ecanie iufh^jnanl many times a day at the remark that the sixteen foot corn was "splieed, ' and would say: " Kven after they've looked it all omt. from the root to the top they will hanlly believe it." The little stenographer, who is short and round, i)e(ame, after a brief while, utterly disjiusted. "Why. you can't makt- people lirliexc we f;row them without tons and tons of fertilizer." Shs" on each section and it . fur in>l;iii<<'. wtiiild lca\«' the farm al 7 A. M. crisi), tender any iiinht tlie eoiisiiiiier has it. Tliis eoii(htioii is, of course, inueli worse wliere the produce is from l\\eiilv-f«>iir hours to one week in transit l)elweoii grower and deaU-r. Tlie day is sliorlly to arrive when all restaurants, hotels and clubs will deal «lireclly with the farmer f;i\ iiig to him the full value of his crops. This means to tiie producer a very lar>^<' increase in his return^. To the private consumer, the "Home Hamper" will hritif; to the door ai)solutely fresh vegctttbUs in season, unliandled. If you will stop to think one moment what "unhanilled" means, you will b<; astoundeil. " I nhandled by a dozen i>eople, not having; stood in hot stores, foul cellars, or along dusty >lr«'ets"; and it means the same to the famous steward as it does to the sim|)le housekeeper. The "Home Hamper" mi'ans a mail order business, and let me say here leL no man, or woiniin, undertakt* market-gardening uidess they distinctly understand it is a business; as much a business a.s a department ston- or a manufactory. This hamper is delivered in New ^'ork or Brooklyn for i)(1..50; exactly the .same price in mihable products, sui-h as lettuce, endive, spinach ;itid radishes, should be picked either in th'- earls- morning or al nightfall. They should then be spread in the shade, thoroughly s|)rinkled aiicl icfl in llu' open all night. The.se products wilt instantly when gathered, and the usual method is to taken barrel into the field cut the croj) and pack it at once, the result being the produce wilts and heats trr- nien«lonsly. Radishes when shipped to a hotel or club should be packed in crates, which have- had paraffin paper laid on each side and each end. They should not be bunched, which is a saving of nuich time to both parties concerned, and every radish should be so perfect that the steward may take up a handful and .see that they may be ser\'ed at once. Is he willing to pay a good price.^ Of course he is, for it .saves him one man's time and brings him much commendation. Lettuce well washed and eri.sp. .saves him further time; in fact, the benefit lie «ierives is well worth a fancy price no matter what th'- vegetable. Sweet corn, without a doubt, is the most difficult product to get to market in its best condition. It lieats very fast, while after a few hours the sugar is transformed into starch. If pcssible, pick it in the early morning and ship at once; if not, pick the last thing at night, spread so the cars do not lie on one another and leave it out in the night air, packing and shipping at once in the early morning. The Senior Partner says, ".\ true corn eat is where you pick the corn after the water is boiling." but alas for city folks, they will never know a "true corn eat." I doubt not the "Home Hamiier this summer has given them the nearest to it they have ever known. The f.irm has shipped this summir u[)ward of one hundred "Home IIam|)ers," most of them to i "history makers" and "critics," which if sold as many of them were, at the usual rate ($I.oOj wouM liave netted a tidy sum — they have been forwarded through New York City to interior points an keep in touch with the members of the assf)ciation and the members of the league, so that a larger harve ' of one<-ommohemmi^■^i<>rl houses do not (arc to han> Ihem at all. This has been our personal (-xperience this summer, therefore the fact has been forced up' . i\s. that the .Hmidl pnwiuccr nuist fin to be good [)r. (if the advisability of fan(-y pai-king. Tomato(-s loose in crates (even though carefully .sorted) brouj;! hfty cents per crate; in baskets in crates, as high as $1.7.5. No. i's "Wicksou" Plum, not yet three years old. Peaches that pleased the palates of eveu the epicurean Oriole. Grapes of superb quality and big yield c - 1 1 11 3 ^ .2 .£' a f Watermelons and eg^pliints should l)e packed with a little straw that they may carry unblemished. Lettuce wrapped in paraffin paper and a jjiece of paper laid over the head of cauliflower will raise them at once to the ranks of aristocratic vegetables. For the convenience of those who are uninitiated, two and one-half bushels make a barrel; spring radishes should have twelve in a bunch, while the summer varieties require only six. Beets and turnips should have six, eight or ten, according to size; understand this is merely the custom of one locality, and package customs, like others, have their good and bad points. Individuality, on a basis of common sense, will prove as good with vegetables as it has with fruits and flowers, while new varieties and hybrids are being as eagerly sought for by stewards as by landscape gardeners. List of Plant Life Flourishing at Experimental Station No. 1 within a j'ear after clearing commenced Name No. of varieties Artichoke, Jerusalem. ... 1 Asparagus 1 Beans, string 8 Beans, Lima 6 Beets 3 Borage 1 Brussels Sprouts i Cabbage 14 Cardoon 1 Carrot 4 Cauliflower 3 Celery 9 Name No. of varieties Apple 10 Apricot 1 Blackberries 1 Cantaloupes 5 Cherries 4 Name No. of varieties Alfalfa 1 Alsike 1 Beets, sugar 1 Canada field peas 1 Name No. of varieties Adlumia 1 Asters 3 Bessera 1 Bulbous begonias 4 Calendual 1 Calladium 1 Catalpa 1 Coboea 1 Chrysanthemum 6 Crocus 3 Vegetables Name No. of varieties Celeriac 1 Chives 1 Corn, sweet 10 Cucumbers 5 Eggplant 1 Endive.. 3 Horseradish 1 Kale 2 Kohl-Rabi 1 Lettuce 19 Martynia 1 Okra ■. 2 No. of varieties 4 Name Onions . Parsnips Parsley 2 Peanuts 2 Peas 3 Peppers 4 Pc-tsai 1 Potatoes, white 10 Potatoes, sweet 3 Pumpkin 2 Radishes 8 Rhubarb 2 Fruits and Berries Name No. of varieties Currants 3 European plums 6 Gooseberries 2 Grapes 3 Japanese plums 3 Name No. of varieties Nectarine 1 Peaches 6 Pears 10 Quinces 3 Raspberries 3 Forage Name No. of varieties Name Clover 3 Millet . . . Corn, field 2 Oats ... Cow peas 1 Rye Mangel Wurzel 2 Sorghum. No. of varieties Foliage and Flower Plants Name No. of varieties Cypress vine 2 Dahlia 3 Daffodils 3 Eulalia 3 Forget-me-not 1 Fuschia 4 Geranium '. 4 Gladiolus 6 Grass, lawn 3 Hollyhock 4 No. of varieties 3 Name Iris. . . Lilac 2 Lilies 2 Nasturtium, dwarf 4 Nasturtium, climbing ... 5 0.\alis 3 Pansy 6 Perennial piilo.< 6 Privet 1 Roses lo Name No. of varieties Sakurajiina 3 Salsify 1 Scorzouera. 1 Shallots 1 Spinach .'5 Squash 5 Sunflower 1 Tomatoes 16 Turnips 4 Udo 2 Total .180 Name No. of varieties Strawberries 1 Watermelon 2 Total (U Name Teosinte . Vetch . . . No. of varieties 1 1 Total Name No. of varieties Salvia 1 Scarlet runner 1 Shrub, scented 1 Sweet peas ... (! Sweet William 1 Thunbergia 1 Violet 3 Wild Cucumber 1 Total .117 Grand Total 380 varieties 71 Long Island Cauliflower unequalled elsewhere Summary Giving data, also conclusions of Broad Gauge Men THE history of Twentieth Century Pioneering has been written from a record kept clay unto day in two diaries; this being supplemented by a very large number of photographs to graphically portray the methods and happenings incident to the subjugation of acreage, frequently referred to as "wild land," in the quickest time possible. Unquestionably many improvements will suggest themselves to even the casual reader. Three hundred and eighty varieties of plant growth were successfully developed or naturalized. This great number was experimented with in order to prove conclusively to the world at large the fact well known to real Long Islanders, that any plant growable in the Temperate Zone could be developed far above the average in quality, and further, many little known or entirely unknown growths of marked food value in their native countries would readily naturalize with the particularly favorable conditions of Long Island climate and soil. In no respects were the experiments with unusual plants a failure. The failures as enlarged upon in the body of this book, were without exception with those species long ago proven particularly profitable on the Island. And the failures upon Experimental Station Number 1 were duplicated not only on Long Island, but throughout the East because of the practically unique atmospheric conditions prevalent during the summer of 1906. Commercial fertilizer was not used or experimented with because it was not needed in the virgin soil, whose only lack was humus, or decaying vegetable matter. A particularly small quantity of manure was used in order to show that a very small amount of capital could be made to yield more profit when invested in agricultural pursuits upon the libeled Long Island territory still lying idle and without reason called "pine barrens" and "scrub-oak waste," than from acres long tilled by "penny wise and pound foolish" owners. To plant and cultivate thirteen acres, the majority of them intensively, but three men were em- ployed. Again, to show primarily that a small amount of capital would carry on the labor end of market- gardening, also that three men with modern machinery could do what from five to eight experienced hands would accomplish with only the strongest of efforts without the aid of labor-saving devices. The use of mechanical drills and hand cultivators proved time and time again, by measurement and by clock, that one man with a machine whose first cost as from $7 to $10 and with a life lasting many years, equaled ten men with a hoe. Many experiments in packing and marketing were tried, proving conclusively that individuality in packing paid. That there was a great market for strictly choice, fresh, products of the earth and further that the principle proven so successful by manufacturers and mercantile houses, must be pursued to secure the largest returns by those who select to go to Mother Nature for a livelihood. The trend of the times is summed up in the phrase "from producer to consumer direct." The consumer secures not only absolutely fresh food, but vegetables and berries and fruits that have ripened, as the chemistry of nature requires, upon the parent stalk at no increase in cost, but, in fact, at a marked reduction; while the grower who has given time and labor, thought and capital, receives a return suflicient to prove that agriculture is a business, assuring not only a comfortable livelihood but profits fully equal to those of any manufacturing or mercantile pursuit. It is sincerely hoped that the following data will prove of interest and value. Total area of Long Island, 1,076,480 acres. The west end, comprising Kings, Queens and Nassau Counties, 337,363 acres. Suffolk County, the easterly two-thirds of the Island, covers 739,1 17 acres. Of this over 40,000 are without assessment. This non-producing territory consists mainly of beaches and salt meadows, while 200,000 acres lie idle and with merely nominal assessment against them, much of them covered with second and third growth timber consisting principally of oak, chestnut and pine which is not considered large enough for cord wood. Some of it through lack of forethought has been burned over by the forest fires so prevalent generally in the spring. As a matter of fact the cord wood on much of this idle acreage would pay and more than pay for the clearing and the first cost. Practically all of it is absolutely virgin soil with every requisite for raising a high quality and big yield of flowers, fruits and vegetables. Prices of uncleared land vary from $25 to $150 per acre. Cleared land, some of it fenced and with dwellings and farm buildings upon it, varies in price from $100 to $250 per acre. Much of this land is extremely valuable having been kept up by the waste matter of live stock of many species. Other acreage has been handled by progressive men who knew the value of cover crops and green manure. Some, of course, has been handled with less intelligence but quickly responds to methods proven rational and assuring yearly increase of fertility. Every section of Long Island is readily accessible. The narrow island has three divisions of the Long Island Railroad paralleling each other; one on the south shore, one through the central section and one along the north shore, making it practically impossible to locate five miles from the railroad facilities, and much of the unsubdued woodland lies within seventy miles of New York City, the greatest market in the world. The Long Island Railroad Company was chartered in 1834, construction completed to Hicksville in 1837 and in 1844 the main line had reached the terminal at Greenport, which, with a connecting line of steamers, opened up New England markets to the farmers at the east end of Suffolk County, which 73 i| rapidly developed that portion of the fertile isluud. Railroad .stalisties show llial llie Loiif,' Island Railroad is the only railroad in the United States \vhi(-h has retained its original name and charter unchanged. Long Island, settled in 1640 both from England and New England, the particularly favor- able climate backing up the fertile and tractable soil, soon brought settlers from neighboring states as well as across the water. The east end built up speedily and settlements first trended west along the thrifty tree-covered north shore. Huntington, mainly because of its good harbor, developed strongly and furnished in the early days the small villages of New York and Brooklyn with bread from its bakeries . Westbury, developed from Hempstead, was at this time supplying milk to these same small villages and the extreme east end was supplying meat, which was driven on the hoof to be slaughtered Ijy the i)re- deccssors of the purveyors of animal food to the metropolis of to-day. As New York and Brooklyn grew, the wealthier classes selected Long Island for their country homes. In Colonial days the territory just east of Long Island City was covered by beautiful country places and wc were entertaining celebrated foreigners, Lafayette among others. Driven eastward by natural development of the great cities, the Westbury Hills, attracted those longing for great estates and the dairymen exchanged the milk pail for the coupon-cutting scissors. At Glen Cove, between Oyster Bay and Hempstead, and at Amity- ville the rapid settlement by the wealthier classes continued antl as transportation facilities were in- creased, the home-seeker of more modest means followed, until the territory up to the Suffolk line was (lotted thickly with growing villages, now for the greater part suburban wards. Suffolk was an unknown country sparsely settled and devoted mainly to farming. The natural eastward trend, however, which started in Colonial days, has not abated, the newcomers in Suffolk as a rule selecting their home sites near the island's shores, leaving the interior still unsubdued. Topographically the island's surface is most varied. Its north shore is composed of wooded hills dropping abruptly to the waters of the sound, and sloping gradually to the ocean shore, leaving its central section a gently undulating and very easily tilled territory. Its climate is remarkably temperate, records showing the range between May and October to be 56 in October and but 7L8 in July. The waters surrounding the island tempering the heat in summer as well as the cold in winter. The records show between 10 to 15 degrees in favor of Long Island. Government report shows the average date of killing frosts on Long Island to be October 20th, about one month later than in Brooklyn or New York. The same report shows that in the year 1898 there were 312 sunshiny days, a record only claimed in such semi-tropical states as California or Florida, such statistics explain in part why Long Island is the most favored spot on the Atlantic coast. It is the only land lying directly across the prevailing south- west winds of summer, which blowing from the ocean reach it unobstructed and uncontaminated. Its soil is known to the geologist as Norfolk sandy loam, varying in depth from two and one-half to five feet. Its underdrainage being ideal and far superior to that secured by ditching or tiles, composed chiefly of glacial boulders and gravel, surplus moisture is carried off as it slowly percolates through the soil above, which contains sufficient clay to hold the moisture and supply the needs of plant life. This same drainage is given as the reason that of the ten healthiest spots in the world Long Island stands third, the first and second being far up in the mountains of Europe. In the agricultural statistics of New York State the island holds a high place; its area is given as about one-twenty fifth of the entire state. In Suffolk County over one-half of this land is undeveloped. The population statistics of the early days are interesting. POPULATION 1693 1698 1703 1723 New York State 2,932 17,848 20,749 40,584 New York City 477 4,937 4,436 7,248 Long Island 1,432 8,261 9,653 15,650 For a century and a half, while New York State was largely agricultural, the island in poi)ulatioii and revenue was the mainstay of the Empire State, running up to one-half of the state's total. Its crop yield led all other portions, not excepting the Mohawk and Genesee valleys' famous farnis. The average yield per acre from old state records show Average yield per acre Long Island All other sections Corn 35 bushels 28 bushels Wheat 19 bushels 14 bushels Oats 26 bushels 17 bushels Rye 17 bushels 1 1 bushels Barley 28 bushels 16 bushels Sufifolk County's settlement is strangely sparse, there being roughly, one and three-fourths persons per acre, averaging the island as a whole. An anomaly for a territory which is the logical resilience section of Greater New Yorkers and which for generations has proven itself to be the natural sonrte of supply of milk and vegetables needed by the great cities whose requirements augment stupendously each year. These two foods being of little value and even a menace to health, except irlicn fitriHhj Jnsli. must perforce be drawn from supply points close by. For even the most studious care and skillful refrigeration fails to compensate for the extended time necessary to reach the consumer from far-off regions. Milk cannot be kept in perfect statu quo nor can the change from vegetable sugar to starchy products of no human food value be checked, hence in the future the easterly half of Long Island will be relied upon to furnish the freshest milk, vegetables, fruits and flowers for the New York market. The Long Island Railroad, continually anticipating the need of growers, is increasing its express service and runs special trains to carry freight cars of vegetables on standard passenger train schedules from growing localities to markets. In 1906 its special service placed vegetables in the hands of city 75 consumers insiile of four hours after ihcy were packed and sliipped from a distance of nearly sevenlN miles. Ill 1!M)."> the frei>;lit shipments of vegetables by rail ahme amounted to: l)erries, i'.i'l tons; eauli- flower. 10,07 ."> tons; piikles, '-.'O.iHIii tons; potatoes, ')'.i,~H Ions; r<'(|uiriiiK :!.^.»0 frciglil cars to transport this large \ ield to market, where the growers secureti for potatoes, cauliflower, asparagus, cabbage, i celery, etc., etc., prices ranging from ten per cent, to forty per cent, above those offered for the sami.- varieties raised elsewhere. The expre-ss .service handled 3, .'500 tons of cauliflower, 375 tons of lima beans, 100 tons of Bru.ssels sjjrouts, 175 t«)ns of peaches, 450 tons of tomatoes. Herewith Ixmg Island data of yield per acre compiled from carefully kc|)t records extending ovei a number of years: I'Or.VTOKS. — l\)tatocs yicM per acre 200 to 400 bushels; average ])ricc 75c. per bushel, varying from 50c., when bulk of crt))) is marketed, to §1.50 and ^i for early and for potatoes kept into the winter. The average gross return |)er acre is $225, cost of production !i(5(i.50, net jjrolit §!()!) per acre. C.MIdFLOWKR. -Long Island alone can grow this delicacy in large (luaiitities in the open air. the natural preri])itation making this pt>ssible. This 'i5.'> \ht acre. .\SI*.VU.\(irS. — fields for thirty years, but good business policy dictates renewal after ttn years' erop|)ing. Profitable crt);) after three years. Average yield [)cr acre 2,500 bunches. N'alue 12,' 2 to 25c. per bunch. Net yearly return for 10 years averaged over $550 ])vr acre. l-IUrr."^. — Long Island has dcvclo|)ed many famous strains. The Newtown pippin was valued .so highly that in 1758 England exemj)ted this pip|)iii from the payment of duty. PEARS have nettetl from $(iOO to $800 per acre. (iri.\( ES especially adapted to the island, $1,500 being secured by one grower from a single acre PEACHES do well, especially on the hills. PLLMS. — The Japanese varieties thrive marvelously, i)aying the third year a good margin. SM.\LL KIUTTS. — Goo.seberries yield 200 to 400 bushels |)cr acre, cost to raise and market 50c per bushel, bring $3 to $4 jier bushel. .Vverage net $000 per acre. CU11K.\NTS. — .\nnual yield sure and extremely heavj', two to four pounds per bushel, fi' qiiently net $;{00 to $400 per acre. MLACKHEKKIES AM) RASPBERRIES thrive well and return upwar.l of $300 per acre. STRAWIUIKRIES yii-ld heavily, as high as $800 per acre having been secured. ( RANMERRIIvS. — Long Island crops rank very high, yield over 200 crates per acre; value ■'r and u|iwarad - Experimental .Slatiriiiaiil In Id w>-cnllril "s<'riili iiaK waste " lanil. It was a revelation in several respects. I wils (jreatly surprised at the character and nain of the soil, espeiially the .S ' j-foot loam section your cellar shows overlying one of the most perfect licds of ({ravel lus an iiinl' ■ train that I Inive ever seen. What yon have done in less than a year on the so-called '"waste lanils" is convincing priHif lli all this section nei'ds is inlelliKenl manaKement and lianl work to liriiiK out the latent possiliililies in vejjetalile and fruit Rrowin 'l"he cliaracler of the produiLs I saw on your place was most Mlriking. I have never seen a hi'tter showing of alfalfa or a ni" profuse growth of corn than you have at the present time. Your alfalfa plot, particularly the one ou which soil from an i' alfalfa (ic-ld wa.s used for inoculation is a won* K. SiiKrAun. Aujfusl 10, 1000. Ivlitor, liroiMyn Daily Kagi \'',\\ lould not have secureil a better truck and garden » lil if you had excavated anil inaile it to order. The ilemnn • trillion yi.u m.idi in growing such a variety of first ((uality garden crops in one short season on wild suit and without chemi' Irrtilitrr 1 cuiMili-r nothing short of marvelous. I »m es|.. . I ,||y graldied at the fine showing of alfalfa nnd forage crops. You have demonstrated not onlv the ixissibilil. but the r«»r «illi^ l.ieh nsti:i;i., Augu«t 15, IWHI. Editor, forOTintf.DoubliMlay, Page* Co 7« ,,^'^»'t<^JC //'V 1- *'*^* ^ M' '^z ^ / M m UrusiclU SprouU —picking ami packiiij,' A crop gathered when all other crops are done t( Vou Imvr (Irlivcri'il tin- k<><> wurk niirucle!!. July ii. lUOO. Walteu S. Fi snei.u Editor, UrooUyn Daily Timrt Sqiiaxhrs nnd nicunitirrii arrivrd, meioni vrtrt Rrrat. You an- rcrtuinly producing the good*. August 1, 1000. Col. A. G. Peacock, Editor. iV. r. Herald.' I rxport to inilnlt;r in nn olil-fushionot country dinnrr wlion I gel houir. You are a bigger an00. Ji DciK Wm. J. YoUNOs The work of the Experimental Station is very interesting and edible. September 17. 1000. Lkwih Wii.ey, Adv. Mgr.. Sew Vork Timet The tomatoes were delicious. The first really good tomatoes I had this sumtner. The novelty of real sugar ci>rn wa- aUo deliKhtful to the palate. The radishes were .sound ami crisp, the beans fine and the potatoes about as |H-rfect as any I have eviT I'aten. 'I'heri- are many who wouM appreciate the opportunity to get really fresh vegetables. I think there is an espi-cinily KihhI opening in New York for real sugar corn and real lima beans. You have the alying excellence mav justly be applied to them September 18, 1900. " S. W. Cooi-ek, Editor, Brooklyn Daily Eaglf. It is needless to say that the contents of the baskets were used and enjoyed, which is not surprising in view of the fact that the entire conti'nts of the biuskets were the products of the finest land in the world. I always have been a great believer in l^ing Island ami felt that all it needed was a .show. \Vm. Holmes, Ju., August 0. lUOU Bus. .Mgr., .V. K. 7Vm. If you arc going into the business of furnishing "Home Hampers" I will be able to get you some customers. August I, 1000. Wm. a. DKKRiva, .\dv. Mgr., .V )'. Sun. The "firstlings" of the crop came ilnly to hanta of revenue has been so successful, that development is now under way in various sectinns, and antieipaf inf^ the rapid (level(>piM<'iil of tiie thousands of acrivs of uiuised land on l-oii;; I.slainl aloiij; af,'rihinng Island. Within the last few months, however, a movement Iiils been in g 1 faith begun by long-headed, practieaTbusiiiess men. few. if any. •ssibilities which may yet make it the garden and beauty spot of tin- entire .Vllanti 'lie whole country. Three c|iiarters of a million aen-s of as fair land as lies ontdiMirs oilers inviting, alnio- ■.■■ experiment; the eiitnnierciid environment is complete -that is to say, the markets and the money rewar.l ■ the appeal which is both the beginning and emi of the most of the activities of mankind is dire«'t nti .ilioM of what have heretofore been rei'ardeil by the lazy and iiidilTerent as merely liarren wastes is alre«•l^ ' lii.i ., Iiolh for immediate and renuite development, with the greatest ami most insatiable markets of tl; **.'"''' t^ ''' idy to pay even the highest prii es for everything which the soil can proilui-e. Never, perhaps, li.i n grrnt imli. i, .,f unbounded possibilities and reiudiing iiilo the far future lieen more advantageously begun Ih.i tills ri>r the 1. _ 1, ullurnl l^mg Island. EverybiKly know.s that the real estate bouch future imprndi. Intensive fiirniinK i» the order of the day everywhere. The cream of the Western prairies has been skimmed, with the demonstration lliat ten ncreit, or even live, are enough; the trolley ami the telephone have put an end to rural isolation; the cliff dwellers of I lie skyscrnpcrs of the great cities are tiiiding more and more every year the disadvantages of their environment, and the tendency lo rtturn to mother earth, to live close to nature grows stronger. Apart, iiiort-over, from the immediate and local interest in the undertaking which is to transform the greater part of the 1-Iniid, to change what the uninformed and the indifferent have reganled as ileserts and barrens to blooming and fertile fiehls, I he movement deserves attention, both from its economic and political a.spects. The difficulties of real republican goyernment in these mngested human centers, the problems of administration, sanitation, eilucation, and all that goes to make up life are the most serious, (he most perplexing with which the civic adiiiinistnition of the present day concerns itself; and no solution has yet been found to compare, in anv degree, with that of distribution of the people in homes of their own, supported by their" own labor ui)on the land. If the t^ing Island experiment docs nothing else than to spread out among the rolling, pictures- (|ue hills and dales of the north shore; the broad inviting plains of the central Island, or the breezy expanses of the southern (Mast, even a fraction of the people who may, in these surriMindings, find prosperous and happy homes, it will abumlantly justify itself The pulilic learns onl v bv object lessons, ami one like that which L primarily receive the benefit of the develop- ment. It hiLs been sometimes said that it would have been a good thing for the Pennsylvania if it had liought the Island when it bought iJie roaii. It may turn out to be better than that if it deveiops the Islanng Island. The incident illustrates, again, the old maxim that "the Lord helps those who help themselves," and that those who are looking for the chance to do something usually are able to find work close at hand. Perhaps, also, there is a side light on the much discussed municipal ownership idea. If anyone believes that the agricultural development of Long Island could be accomplished in any other way than that by which it has been undertaken, the experiments of municipal bridge operations, of tunnel construction, of street opening, and of public buildings, go very far toward demonstrating a negative. The corporation and the public are abumlantly able to meet each other half way, at least, in their own interests, and anyone who will take the trouble to study the methods and the policy recognized between the railroad and the people of the Island will see an excellent illustration of the practical, common sense way of doing things. Taken in its large sense, the experiment of Long Island, though now in the ii> < rop i>f wtcils alon^' the fciufs and in some of tho crop- tliat anvtiiie loiild wi>li not Inset-. 1 am incliind to think tln' luinifn was too urcat for an nntrainod man. and tin- Senior I'arlner was k<'|)t closely in the office in Unntinfjtoii nearly all summer and couM not b« with Mike as much as we desired. This nncxpcctcd offict- has Ikh-h a cnrious devoloi>menl of farm work Tho "Lnrc of tho l^iml" hron^ht ns so many letters thai it was nocessary to add to the office force. Iii Ant;nst. I!>(t7. Mr. Peters ask«-d if we conld p-t ont a little leallet every other week or .so, nivin^; the work ' at tin- Kxperimental Stations, so that people who liad liecouK' interested in the "Lnre of the Land' could follow tho farms in their growth. The Senior Partner '"lowed" that he could and in three days.seni tiielirst copy of "'I'iie Loiij; Island Af,'n>iiomist " on its life's mission. Kvery two weeks since then th< little leallet has j;one j,'ratis to anyone who wants it. It is now in the i)ef,'inninK '>f it^ third year and j;(K's to every Slate and 'i'errilory in the I'nion anti <'very country in the f;!oJ>e, niimherinK «»ver 7,.")ers, cauliflower, pumpkin. Iiools, beans, carrots, rliubarl), onions, Brussels sprouts, linochio, s(|uasli, spinach, lettuce, all kinds of melons, tomatoes, okra, kale, marlynia. cfi^'plant, Swiss chard, cal>baf,'e and alfalfa. \ new aon of alfalfa was planted in June after we had purchased seed from every .seedsman we could find who handled il, and had them all tlaiited from the cold frame. The latter matiin'd earlier, while the field .sown grew larger after the usual Summer's dry spell and matured in late Sei)teml)er. These yielded at the rate of 1,0:J;> bushels to the acre. They measure •iS to the bushel and average •£ pounds each, .soni> weighing as heavy as iJ?.j pounds, running from Ki'j to l!)'^ inches in circumference and averaging ^ inches in thickness. Neodle.ss to say they will be planted in (juanlily at both stations next year, in 1!)10. Our friend, Profe.ssor Watts of Penn.sylvania State College, .says ho purchased two onions about this sire for 3.5 cents. The Japane.se Udo has exceeded all our expectations; the Summer growth is 10 fwt antI tho wini .shoots arc large, strong and tleliciously tender and inviting. l*e-Lsai, the Chinese cabbage, this ye.i. headed marvelously and is a most attractive delicate head of gre<'ns either cooked or raw. .\mong Ihe newcomers on the farm this year is the South .\frican pipe gourd or "Calabash. " The gourds gro\v with great en.sc to perfoetion and the following incidi'nt occurred just before Fair time this year. "Kliot" (who is one of the edicient. enthusiastic, willing, faithful, oflice force) "go into a big pi| denler's in New ^drk an;row more next year. lie is going to writt | to yon ahont them and would not take any pay for mounting' this one." ' ".Ml ri>;ht," .said we, "a new i^dn^try for I-onj,' Inland and another point seored for the Experi- mental Stations anil waste land." "Suj;ar pinnpkins" and "era/.y scpiash" from Italy are hoth new and extremely >;ood. Finoehio, the Italian .salad plant, grows to pa," .seems to outclass (iolden Hantam.for tendi-rness and sweetness. In field corn IVdrick's "IVrfected" .seems to lead all others in (juality and evenness of yield. The orchard gave samples of fruit the third year, all .samples were of the very liighest quality both as to flavor and color. The fourth year a late frost caught many hlossoms, hut what fruit there was, was marvelous for size and color. I have never .seen such color on peaches ami pears; IJartletts, as large and handsome as anything ()r<"gon or California can |)rodiice, with a flavctr that these |)laees ciitmol put into fruit no matter what the growers do. Tin- f|uinces are excellent, .\pricots and nec- tarines l)oth set fruit and nearly matured them, then for some un<'X|)lained reason they shriveleortions of Witloof Chicory or "Barbe de Capucin." lettuce, radishes and \'omig onions. Her continued demand inspired us to renewed efforts with cold frames, and tlu' Double Siudight (dass Sash made it possible for us to sui)]>ly her, without any cost fm heating a|>]>aratus. These sash are one of the greatest inventions of the age. Thev are built in tin usual manner with the excei)tion of two thickne.s.ses of glass which are separated, forming a dead air space which holds the tem|)erature even, and holds in the hot bed or cold frame the heat stored up on e\cry bright day. The surplus i)roduce is still .sent to Commission Merchants, but always to hotels, restauratds ami clubs lirsl. We pack oidy fancy goods in a fancy style and it is still bringing the .same good ])riees. The horses, Texas and Huckeye are as soimd as a dollar. In \Miiter they are fed on alfalfa and in the Spring they come out fat, sleek and glossy and the farm has been offered .$350 for Texas, the sore fool«'d roman nosed b\iek-skin. The farm help has been about the .same. In the Winter Mike and his two boys tiike care of thing- .\s hot beds increase, so we can .ship hampers all winter, Mike will have to have one man to help liini In the Si)ring two Italians come to work all summer, and .\ugust 1st two more go on to helj) keep weed- from seeding, and .sowing the farm to ruinaticm; and harvest the cro|)s. September is given • Fairs and all hands work night and day with that extra work during the harvesting time. The thini summer a young Hutger's college student worked on the farm in order to gain practical expcrii-nce. .\s f;dl dr<'w near the Senior I'artner said: "Well, Jim, have you gotten what you desired here? I am sorry I could not be with you more, but this Jonfounded ollice work keej)s me tied uj).*' "Indeed I have, Mr. Fidlerton," was the rejdy; "this summer has meant more to me than a whol term in college." This year a high .school .student gained |)ractical experience before he ami his sister and mollu i w<'nt to farming for their livelihood. It is one of our Partner can give are worlii much. I'erhaps our dream will be realized at llxperimental Statii'J No. i. Ia-\. us go over to Medford now, leaving "Peace and Plenty" true to name, more beautiful thai ever before, with the grove about the house i)lot growing so thick some trees will have to be thiiUK f>ut. the vines and bushes at home and luxuriant; with a .sen.se of .settled peace and comfort pervadin. the place. In pari IN , I spoke of Kxperimental .Stjition No. i. This was established because th«- wiseacre- .said: "Oh, it 1^ all right Fullerlon, you can i niilr- casl of Ni'w \ ork City. In ordt-r to ohtjiin 10 acros it was ni-ccssary to l»uy HO, but only ten wt-ro clt-arfil and d<'\|)cd as a niarki't ^'ardrn. TIk- |iorlai>lf liousi- nsrd at tin- Fairs was placrd on the honitvstwul jilot, a well liriven (and water was rcacln-d at (iS ftrt, f,'oin^,' to 71 feet to grt well into the vein), a lower built, another Secor engine in- stalled and barn erciled. 'IN-d's friend (Jeorgo Harrett with his wife and two small boys were placed in the portable, and the work of jjlanlinj; bepm. In di^iging a |)it in the bunk house to store the dynamite while clearing, we discovered to our surprise and joy that the soil was four feet deep instead of two inches. It is a lighter (more sandy) (|ualit\ than No. 1, but sufhcienl clay to form an iileal early market garden .soil and it is fully two weeks earlier, 'i'lu- drainage below is just as perfect as at Xo. 1, .so we had no thought i)ift that "Prosperity Farm" would e()ual " I'eace and IMenly." \Vc were sure this Uualily was an iileal fruit and berry territory, therefore we planted an acre of ui; hard trees, almost a duplicate of No. Is, with the exception of a predominance of j)eaches where No. I's orchard has a jjrcdominance of Ja])anese plums. Oiu'-half acre was i)lant<'d to currants (Fay's I'rolilic, Cherry and White) American goo.scberries (C"liam|)ion and Industry) and Knglish gooseberries ^('rown HoIj and Whitesmith). One-quarter acre was j)lantcd to reersonal attention. .V five-room and two-room portable were purchased; the larger placed behind the tower and the smaller to the north and at right angles to it. This we called the "FIbow," one room was for our good Nettie, ■•lio again took up farm life with Us.and t he other room, osten.sibly for guests, wa.s occupied all sinumerby 80 3 No. 2's Orchard lu ISJU? First. Jtar ^iiuipies of 'Tine IJ.if; a liigh school lad who was undecided whether to take the agricultural course at college or not, and one of the office force. But my pen runs too fast! George had been given the farm plan'Jn the late Winter; we always make a farm plan, each plot laid out to certain crops so there can be no excuse for mistakes. Three days of careful verbal explanations accompanied this plan and the foreman was given the "reasons why" for every detail. There was to be no intercropping this year as the berries needed all the land alloted to them, three rows of strawberries could, however, be planted in the orchard rows without injury to anything. The southeast acre was to be put into strawberries, testing more varieties, and the southwest acre in potatoes to be followed by alfalfa, consequently was to be dressed with lime very thoroughly worked into the soil. The rest of the acreage was laid out to market garden crops. In May we had a request to take on our force a young Norwegian just landed, sixteen years old. We took him as we hoped to get considerable accomplished in the new land. We had concluded to try clearing by stump puller, such a howl had gone-up about the dynamite method. We succeeded in getting }.-i acre cleared free of stumps; this was cut up with a bog rotary harrow, disked and harrowed and planted without any fertilization ivhatcver, with various varieties of cow peas, soy beans and velvet beans. Holes were dug in about one and one-halt acres of the land that was cleared but not stumped, a little manure placed in the holes and melons, cantaloupes, squash, pumpkins and cucumbers planted. We wanted to prove whether these crops would net a return on partially cleared land. I can say riglit here they did not. It took much longer to spray, the brush (which seems to spring up over night), had to be cut about them, for the air drainage was not good. The plot was handicapped by two reasons: George, who was now foreman, had not seen that the earth in each hole had been tiioroughly tramped so the roots would have a firm hold, and the nights of this season were too cold for the good development of these crops. A small crop was gathered, but not sufficient to pay. In June our house was erected, the soil from the cellar (three to four feet under the surface) spread, some manure forked into it and on June 24th grass seed was sown. On one plot to the east of the house velvet beans were planted on this cellar soil, just to see if it was "pizen." The grass was up in a few days, and the lawn mower going the last of July. Now the lawn cannot be surpassed for thickness and richness of color. The velvet beans have run riot over the whole plot, the pods are formed but will not mature as they were sown so late. The nodules on the roots are great wads, each one a storehouse of our valued nitrogen. The cow peas and soy beans have grown tremen- dously and furnished the richest kind of humus on which to grow next year's crops. And the "pizen" theory of deep soil is once more exploded. Mrs. Barrett was to be cook for our family, Mrs. Trappier taking Henry, Domini(jue and Anon Gunderson (the Norse lad) to board. The Barretts had two more wee ones added to their family, "Prosper" and "Edith" so there were with our own little ones, and the twins, nine children on the farm . July 1st, the hottest of hot days, saw us move over. The painters had just finished the house, everything was at sixes and sevens, the baby resented the change, and life to me after the labor of leaving our home in "apple pie" order for summer occupants, was hardly worth living. A night's sleep in the dear little cottage where all the sweet night air blew in about us made the morning brighter. A survey of the farm sent us indoors with long-drawn, thoughtful, faces and the following con- ference between the Senior and Junior partners took place: "By gracious, I don't see what has come over George! This farm has always been the pink of perfection. We told him 'no intercropping' this year and look at those berries! Potatoes in the rasp- berries, beets, carrots and turnips in the currants, potatoes between the English goosebcny rows anil cabbage and peppers between the berry plants. Five rows of strawberries where we told him three, and peas and sweet potatoes between the strawberries! Ye Gods we had better plow the whole farm up and start over. This is a corker and I ought to be discharged!" "Steady there! This is a corker, but let's try to find the reason. There are many. First he has three men under him and he doesn't know how to direct the work and oversee it himself, he goes ahead and does a staving day's work and never sees what the other men are at. Next, the baby is little and maybe his wife has upset him some, she has a frightful temper. Next Dominique and TrapiJJer who are Socialists and Anarchists have probably been telling him how to do things." "You're right, there are many reasons; my main duty this summer is to teach George how to be a foreman." Just one week and it was evident Mrs. Barrett would never do as a cook, Ihougli heretofore slu> had always served us good meals when we went to the farm. The children were dirty and absolutely lawless, there was quarreling between them and the Trappier twins and things were anything but pleasant. The drought had enabled a brush fire, started and forgotten in the center of the island to the west of us, to spread and become a ravaging forest blaze, high winds swept it galloping over the country, threatening everything in its way. On July 4th all hands went out antl fought it along the west tire line which had been planted to corn (sweet corn, of all things), but never cultivated, and at this lime of all others, the i)ump rods in the well had parted leaving us unable to get water, and the irrigation had nearly drained the tank. That night our Medford neighbors responded well to our invitation to view the fireworks. They were gorgeous with a forest fire as a background. The night of the 5th a very bright blaze started up at the north of the 80 acre strip— which by the way is only 5 acres wide. All hands started out to fight it; in an hour we women folk knew how hot and tired they must be, so in our innocent hearts Nettie and I started out with a pail of water and a lantern across the scrub land. We walked it seemed for eternity, hallooing as we went. Finally we got a response and met them returning having protected the north bound by back firing. The tire went east and toward morning apparently died out. On the 6th the Senior Partner went to the Connecticut Agricultural College at Storrs to adtlress the summer class and I to IIuntiiiKtoii to pass on tlie final proofof the " Aniunomisl.'" I liaii lianlly settled to work wlw-n Nettie's voire eanie over tlie 'plione sayin^j: "Tlie forest fires have «onie up af,'ain ami are eottiitij; alonj; the l-'ast line, the incti are trying; to Imck fire unnt from bad to worse and we concluded she had all she could manage to lake care of her four small cliildnii. Mrs. Tra]>pler took us in until we could get someone else, and establish our dining-room in Henry's linusc, which was the cottage used at the Fairs in 1!)()8. In a week's time the back porch hacome foreman of the SO acre farm, who could have risen to any height he chose in his ])rofessi()n. could become so utterly ruined by a little prosperity. The few conversations that Dick the eldist child, hail with the Senior Partner showed us that a misbiken ide.i ', Dick? I guess I won't go home at all." "'( 'ause we want to go out in our yacht, same as we did last summer." Yachting at I'atchogue, four miles to the south, was responsible for part of the farm ruin. "iMr. Fnllert(»n, we are going to have bicycles, me and 'Francy' and 'i*ros|)e'. They's going to be nid-r than Hope's. .\nd we's going to have a nice automobile, not an ohi one like yours. .\nd w«''s going to have lliree horses nicer than Dom and Pennsy." Such were the ideas being instilled into the minds of these i)t)or children, whose mother neither fed. clothed nor cle.-ined them |)ro[)erly. We often wonder whether George would not have prospered with a good, sensible level-headed wife, for away from her influence he seemed to be a fine felU)w. Oh. man is by no means to blame for all of the evils of this world! 'J'he automobile story is too long to dwell ui)on. Suffice to say the one i)urchased for t)ur use between the farms which is \i miles by road and l.»0 by rail was unaljle to travel in the heavy sandy roads of the little n>ed territory lying between the farms and showed characteristics which .soon gave it the name ".Muil Turtle." A beautiful road mare, ])romplly mimed "Pomona," took its place; she covers till- distance, which is very hilly, in about two hours. Henry Knight, who was the senior worker on the farm, was promoted to foreman. He shrank much from the resp(insii)ilily, coupled with the fact that the farm was in such dreadful shape, but we urged and supported him ami he is making ghed whiih had been nioveil near the barn. A second cow was purchased when a neighbor, whose .son met a Iragu' death. « .inu- and told us that she must get away to recover her balance and could not leave the <'ow with iiell her for beef and you and I will be out of po( ket but the farm will not suffer." " ril go you," was the reply. .'^o ".Sandy" becnnie one «)f the connnunity, and the following Sunday gave us a daughter "Sunday." Sandy is all right and is a better milk and butter producer than "Wynde" who is a registered Guernsey. Trappier was given charge of the cows, chickens and pigs. He was the most pessimistic human being I have ever met. Being an anarchist he was of course an atheist, therefore there was no "mcum and teum" to him. The same lawlessness was instilled into the children, but as little ones are quick to "follow the leader" they became tractable and lovable while we were at the farm. As soon as we left they reverted. Many times we asked Henry if we should let Trappier go, and each time he wished to give him another trial. Finally rank mutiny and worse made it necessary to dismiss him peremi)tt)rily the last of September. His place was instantly filled by a high class Russian from the south of Russia. "Is he all right?" I asked the Senior Partner. "1 am so tired of these people who have come to us from charitable organizations and industry settlements, that 1 am skeptical about anyone now." "His eyes are fine and he has a good bearing. He is quiet and industrious and half starved. He has been working for a man who paid him almost nothing and fed him less. Before that he came out from the city with a contractor who owes him $200, but as the contractor puts all his property in his wife's name it is no use to sue him." "My, what hardship, and there seems no redress. Modern business methods sound much like the fall of Rome. I wonder what we are coming to!" My story has outrun me. We will have to go back to farm operations. Raspberries came in by the crate, GO pints to the crate. They were shipped to private customers, were put in hampers and went to commission merchants, restaurants, hotels and clubs. The smallest sum we ever received was 4 cents a pint. We paid one cent a pint for picking, and two cents a (piarl for gooseberries and currants. We picked 797 quarts of raspberries this season from three-ciuarters of an acre of bushes. This is their first heavy yield, and, as potatoes had been planted in the rows the berries received no cultivation. The English gooseberries had been sprayed very early in the season with Bordeaux and later with Sulphide of Potassium (or Liver of Sulphur) 1 pint to ,'50 gallons of water. There was a big eroj) of the most gorgeous fruit. The bushes averaged a quart each and these sold at wholesale for hi cents a quart. There was absolutely no mildew upon them, so we have fought our fight and won. American gooseberries were way over average, currants also and we could have sold bushels more than we raisen, Ht'lic of (Georgia, Crosby, Everbearing, Hill's Chili, Hemphill and Klondyke. Carmen and Cham])ion were sujx'il) from every point. Belle of Georgia very good and tremendously prolific, ('rosby. Hill's Chili, Klondyke, and Hemphill good, and as they ripen very late they are to be highly prized. We gathered peaches from the middle of July to the middle of October. The grapes — just a few set along the front walk as a trial — were so superb we have decided to set out :in acre of them. Some of them, with the peaches, won prizes at the fair and that speaks much, for they competed with old established vines. The varieties included Niagara, Delaware, Catawba, Brighton, Worden, Agawam, Salem, Wilder and Campbell's Early. This Fall the "Elbow" or little two-room portable which constituted a portion of our house, went to the County Fairs. As usual it was crowded with visitors, not skeptics, as we found the first year, but friends of ours, coming in the spirit of neighborliness to tell us of their successes and confer with us about their failures. The South African "Calabash" or pipe gourd (the gourds as they grow hung upon the wall, and a curved stem end of one fitted with a mouth-piece, forming the now "classy" and expensive pipe of the wealthy); butter from the alfalfa-fed cows, French musk melons, Japanese musk melons, Bermuda onions, Bermuda potatoes, Japanese pumpkin "Chirmeu," Catawba sweet corn, Swiss chard, lemon cucumbers, finochio, martynia, okra and Sakurajima radish, together with the superb fruit from the three-year-old trees and grapevines held the center of the stage. Both farms entered in competition at the Suffolk County Fair, and we were delighted when they were forced to take second and third prizes and step aside altogether in some cases. The farmers are at work, they are producing better goods all the time, and I think we may justly feel that the Experi- mental Stations have stimulated their ambition. No. 1 won 30 prizes, and No. 2, because of George's disobedience to orders won only 14 prizes. The exhibit of vegetables in competition was said to be the finest ever shown, while the judges were driven almost to distraction trying to decide which cauliflower was the most perfect of a host of perfect ones. Success was repeated at the Queens-Nassau County Fair, only for some peculiar reason fruits and vegetables alone are barred from competition if not raised in either of these counties. The little cottage in its pretty setting of oak trees was thronged each day. At the Anerican Institute, New York City, 8 prizes were won. Here the com|)etition is against estates and men whose entire income is derived from just such exhibits and who raise as many varie- ties as possible for exhibition only. At Huntington, where we were so unfortunate among our neighbors the first year as to be barred from c(.)miictition after we had entered in all classes, we won first prize on collection of (i vegetables. This was all we entered and I was surprised at the Senior Partner for sending anything at all, for one of iiis favorite sayings is "no sheep can bite me twice and live." As the clearing went so slowly last winter, it was necessary to get outside help to do it for us. There is an Islander who has, for a long time, claimed that he could clear land much cheaper and mucli l)elter with a stumj) puller than by dynamite. We determined to have it proven to us and therefore signed a contract with him to do the land at about two-thirds what it cost by dynamite, and the contract included the following item made at his suggestion, which was, that ten acres should be cleared, the stumps burned, the land plowed, harrowed, and seeded down to rye (we to furnish seed) in .'50 days. It is now CO days, and the stumps are partially out of about 2 acres, there is no plowing or harrowing done yet, in fact the remaining roots are so numerous it is almost impossible to plow. Dynamiters go in next week and we hope to have at least 20 acres ready for use next Spring. Tlie 30-foot fire line is now being cultivated with disc harrow to prevent Autumn forest fires from reaching the Experimental Station plot. This will be seeded down to rye for a crop next Si>ring. The two cows have lived all summer mainly on one-half acre of alfalfa. A little sugar corn in the fire line, and some of the tops of the cow peas and soy beans, have completed the green food for them . Now we start on a model dairy barn, just a small one to begin with, but so arranged that the herd can be increased with but little expense for additional building. The building will be of hollow tile, with stucco surface, all modern fittings; a silo nine feet in diameter with separate feed and wash-rooms. A inilk and butter house will be erected near by. This will also be concrete construction and the floor four fe(>t below the surface of the ground. ■". Ventilators'in both buildings will, of course, be installed. The stanchions will be of wood, painted with two coats and a third coat of enamel which will, we feel, make them germ proof. The floor, dropping gutter, and feed trough will all be of concrete; iron pijie slal fittings, overhead litter and feed carriers. Windows hinged at the bottom and swinging in will give good vonlilation. • Tlio farms liave lived their simple life; they have worked up from the simplest outfit inehiding houses, farm implements and small eori)s of help. They have prospered and "made good" and just as any man starling out in a simple way would hraneh out whi-n he prospered, so now the farms arc braneh- ing out. A manure spreader potato digger, and grain drill have been added to each station, more help for the increased acreage at No. 2, an-> i?:^s ^^•-;;^^:^?^i^ ^V-'"^-"' LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 000a77q0SlQ