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Enough you would think for a score of wives
To keep them in luxury all their lives!
The town is a perfect Babylon

To a quiet chap," said Farmer John.

"You see, old Bay,

You see, old Gray,

I'm wiser than when I went away.'

"I've found this out," said Farmer John,
"That happiness is not bought and sold,
And clutched in a life of waste and hurry,
In nights of pleasure and days of worry.
And wealth isn't all in gold,
Mortgages, stocks, and ten per cent,
But in simple ways and sweet content,
Few wants, pure hopes, and noble ends,
Some land to till and a few good friends,
Like you, old Bay,

And you, old Gray,

That's what I've learned by going away."

And a happy man is Farmer John

Oh, a rich and happy man is he!

He sees the peas and pumpkins growing,
The corn in tassel, the buckwheat blowing,
And fruit on vine and tree,

The large, kind oxen look their thanks

As he rubs their foreheads and pats their flanks,

The doves light round him and strut and coo,
Says Farmer John, "I'll take you, too,

And you, old Bay,

And you, old Gray,

Next time I travel so far away."

1. Retell this story in a written paragraph of ten or twelve lines. 2. Describe Farmer John as he appears to you. Describe his house; his barn. Is he a kind-hearted man? Why do you think so? 3. Where had he been? Name some of the things he had seen on his journey.

4. What and where is Paris? Rome? Babylon?

5. Spell and explain these words: deaf'en; com'fort; sti'fled; clutched; mort'gages (môr'gages). Refer to the dictionary.

6. What is meant by "The town is a perfect Babylon"?

7. What are some of the things a city man would be glad to see when he returned home from a trip to the country?

IN ORCHARD AND GARDEN

BY ANDREW MARVELL

WHAT

WHAT wondrous life is this I lead!
Ripe apples drop about my head;

The luscious clusters of the vine
Upon my mouth do crush their wine;
The nectarine and curious peach
Into my hands themselves do reach;
Stumbling on melons, as I pass,
Ensnared with flowers, I fall on grass.

S

T

SPECIAL KINDS OF FARMING

DAIRYING

HERE are hundreds of cows in the herd that is

own use.

grazing in the big pasture. They may be Jerseys, or some other good kind of milk cows. "But," you say, "why does one man need so many cows?" 5 The answer is easy. He does not need them for his This is a dairy farm that supplies milk to many homes in the city. Twice a day this herd is milked in the dairy barns on the farm. Each cow has her place in the long row of stanchions. There they To eat their grain and hay, and there they are milked by many hands or by milking machines.

Cans and cans of sweet cold milk are loaded on fast trains, and rushed into the bottling station in the city. There the milk is heated (Păs'teur-ized) to keep it 15 from souring quickly, bottled, and chilled. Then the drivers of the milk wagons deliver the bottled milk to their customers.

If you live in a big city, the milk you had for breakfast likely came to you a long way from a dairy farm. If you live in the country, you will be glad to learn how the farm serves milk to your city cousins.

TRUCK FARMING

How do all the people in a large city get vegetables to eat? There is little room for kitchen gardens in a city. Every market and store has a supply of fine vegetables, and there the people can buy them; but where do the markets get them?

In the winter time much of the greengrocers' supply in Northern cities comes from warmer lands. It is shipped in from the South. But in the summer most of it is grown around each city.

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The need of a city for peas, beans, carrots, radishes, potatoes, and other garden truck has caused many men to go into truck farming. These farmers usually have small places, as near the city as possible. Each little farm is laid out and tended like a garden. The soil is kept very rich, and often three crops are 15 raised on the same plot of ground in one year. As soon as one crop is gathered some other kind of crop is planted.

Much of the work is done by hand, and not by machines as in other kinds of farming. No machine can 20 set out cabbage plants or load beets on a wagon. Most of our truck farming is done by people who have come from Europe. Poles, Dutch, Danes, Swedes, and Italians are good gardeners.

Each summer morning big loads of fresh vegetables 25 on autotrucks are unloaded in our city markets. These

are the products of the thrifty truck farmers. People in the city could not live without them.

KITCHEN GARDENS

Most houses have some ground near them that is not used. Even if the plot is only a few feet square sit can be made into a paying garden. It should be spaded up in the early spring, and the soil broken up fine. Make the ground rich by adding fertilizer. On this little plot you can have fine fun growing radishes, lettuce, Swiss chard, and beans. Keep an account To of all the things you raise. You will be surprised to find how much money you have saved your family in a single summer.

In the country the kitchen gardens supply the family with all the vegetables they need to eat in the summer. 15 And there are plenty to spare to can or to put into the cellar for winter use. No part of a farm pays so much or so well as the garden. And no part of it can be made so beautiful.

1. Does your school have a school garden? If so, tell what you expect to grow in it. Do you have a garden at home? What do you grow there?

2. Explain how milk is produced for a great city. How is it brought to the many families?

3. What is meant by truck farming? Where are the truck farms? Who tends them? What are they for?