Excerpt from The ABC of Potato Culture Dear friends, one great reason why I have asked Mr. Terry to write this book on potatoes is the number of people that are at this present time begging for something to do. In our factory for the manufacture of bee-supplies, we employ from 100 to 150 hands, and it is not only daily but sometimes hourly that I am besieged with applications for something to do. I have employed as many as I could, and suggested means of employment to those I have been obliged to send away. Many times these friends say they have been everywhere, asking for employment. This matter has been on my mind for many months, and it has seemed that the great problem before our American people was to find something they could do, to earn the necessaries of life. Work in factories is, to a certain extent, not permanent. The vicissitudes of business necessitate cutting down the force, and sometimes stopping entirely. What shall the men and women of America busy themselves with? How shall they earn their bread by the sweat of their face? After having considered this question prayerfully, the answer has come to me, "Go out into the open fields, and ask old Dame Nature for something to do - till the soil, busy yourself with domestic animals, bees, poultry, and the like." After you have once learned to do this, you are independent; that is, you are not dependent on any human being for the wherewith to earn your bread. You are looking to God the Father; and he has said, "Him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." Neither myself nor friend Terry would advise everybody to go to raising potatoes; but a great many are so situated that they could, by this means, supply themselves with this great food staple. A penny saved is a penny earned, you know, and brother Terry tells you not only how to raise potatoes without any very great expense of time and labor, but he also tells you how to raise better potatoes than you are likely to buy of anybody. Again, a great many are already raising potatoes; and if you want to know how they raise them, go around about digging-time. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.