still it came not. The plum orchard
became a wilderness of bloom; the buds of the apple trees began coyly to
unfold their dainty loveliness; pussy willows flaunted their sweetness
on the air--while the birds sang their love notes from trees and bushes.
Then frost came--not once, but night after night. Thus our hopes, which
had risen with every promise of a bountiful harvest, fell with the
thermometer far below zero. When fall came both plum and apple orchards
made so poor a showing, not only here but all around this part of the
country, that we had hardly enough fruit for our own uses.

[Illustration: Mrs. Stager's grandchildren among the roses of one year's
growth.]

We had a great deal of rain, all through the spring and into the summer.
Strawberries, that generally do well in wet weather, did not bless us
with their usual abundance. Currants and gooseberries also left us in
the lurch--but the Snyder blackberries were loaded with luscious fruit,
while raspberries--why the berries of the Golden Queen bent the stalks
down with their weight. Prof. Hansen's Sunbeams were covered with
berries, as were all of the seedling raspberries sent from the Breeding
Farm three years ago, Nos. six and seven, of the red ones, bore the
largest and firmest berries. I had quite a time keeping the blossoms off
the everbearing strawberries sent here in the spring from the State
Breeding Farm. Although I had bought and planted three named--and very
much extolled--other kinds of everbearers, none of them were as prolific
in plants, and extra large berries, as those unnamed ones from the State
Breeding Farm. We had our first berries from them in August.

When we had our fair here, the last of September, I made quite a showing
of them, from the size of a bean (green) to a crab apple (ripe),
surrounded by leaves and blossoms. They were still covered with bloom
when the hard frosts came.

The two small hybrid plums sent did not make much growth. Most
vegetables that have always grown so well in other summers did very
poorly this year. Out of four hundred and seventy-five tomato plants,
taken the best of care of by Inez, my granddaughter, for the state
tomato contest, we did not get one bushel of good ripe ones. Lima and
other table beans were planted three times (on account of rotting in the
ground) and then did not ripen. No ripe corn. In fact, about all the
vegetables that came to fruition were peas, cauliflower and cabbage.

Of flowers, s