But I remember passing another farm, all of twenty-five years ago, where horticulture may once have been of value to the farmer but had become a burden to him.  There was a dense grove of willow down at one side, through which the drive leading to the barn was kept wet and muddy by the shade.  On the other side rose a high grove of trees casting a gloomy shade on the house and poultry buildings, and a few odd shrubs straggled along the roadside and gave the place an unkempt look.  Of all things, have sunshine!  City people often have to sacrifice it, but no farmer is too poor to have it in plenty.  Don’t let your trees tyrannize over you.

It is, perhaps, unnecessary to mention the value of a windbreak to a farm.  If it has not been provided by nature it is an absolute necessity to plant one as a matter of economy.  It saves fuel inside and gives comfort outside.  The cows give more milk, and all the animals put on more fat, if they have a sheltered place to take their airing.  It is also a good thing to set some bushes or small spruces along the foundation wall of the house on the windy side.  They are ornamental in summer, and in winter they catch the snow and tuck the house in against the wind.

When it comes to the garden, the “Value of Horticulture to the Farm” depends largely upon the farmer’s wife, for a garden needs mothering as well as fathering.  Few farmers have time to do more for a garden than the actual labor of plowing, planting, and cultivating, and digging the root vegetables in the fall.  Somebody must watch the garden, go through it nearly every day, poison the cabbage worms and potato bugs, keep the asparagus and cucumbers picked, watch for the maturing of peas and beans, and dispose of any surplus either by canning or sending to market.  To visit the garden only when you wish to gather some particular vegetable is like milking the cow only when you happen to want some milk.

A garden well tended puts the farm far ahead of the city home for luxuries of the table and cuts the cost of living in two.  Fresh vegetables and cream are expensive articles in the city, inaccessible to any but the well-to-do, but it does not take a very thrifty farmer to have them, providing he has a thrifty wife.  But to be a real helpmeet she must have an overall skirt and a pair of rubber boots.  Then the dewy mornings will be as much of a pleasure to her as to her husband, and she can do her garden work in the cool of the day.

A garden is especially valuable to a farm, because the farm is usually somewhat isolated and must depend more or less upon its own resources for freshness and variety of food.  A good garden on the farm will almost abolish the tin can, and strike off a large part of the grocer’s bill, to say nothing of making the farmer live like a king.

The Strawberry Weevil.