Annual Report of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, Ithaca, N.Y. Volume 19 (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 Excerpt: ...They do more for the benefit of mankind than all the loafers in the world, They can tell an interesting story about themselves. Some day I will help them to tell you the story of their work and lives. This is the boy who can ask " thirty questions " a minute, who has pockets in his knee pants and who is trying to learn to whistle. After the clods have been made fine he gets the garden rake. He works it through the soil as he would a comb through his hair. That makes the seed bed finer than did the thumping with the back of the spade. He has been told that if he would have plants comfortable, he must scratch the soil with a rake and tickle it with a hoe. Little Pepperpod has pride in her work. She likes to do her work with exactness and have it look as though she was fond of her task. Some people are proud of their white hands. Little Pepperpod is proud of her " velvet hands " that are capable of doing things well and without a clatter. So now she gets a board and lays it down on the soft fine earth that has been so carefully prepared and scratched. She makes a straight groove with the end of the garden rake by drawing it along the edge of the board. Now Little Miss Pepperpod sows the peppergrass seed in the bottom of the groove in the soil. She scatters the seed about as far apart as her finger nail is wide. If the seeds should all grow and the plants stand too thick, she can pull out and eat those that she does not want to grow. Plants may be crowded so close that they become weeds to each other. The next thing Little Pepperpod does is to push back the plank and scatter a thin covering of earth over the peppergrass seed. Seeds need a covering as much as boys and girls do when they go to bed. This covering should be thicker for large see...