VIII

MYRON'S STRAWBERRY BED


One fine day in early April Myron spaded up his strawberry bed. The bed
was made in a sunny spot, on moist but not soggy soil, land excellent
for strawberry culture because the year before it was part of a potato
field. Following The Chief's advice he had spread over the bed only a
very light covering of well-rotted manure. Myron first measured off his
garden bed driving stakes in at the four corners. Then he strung off the
bed with stout garden cord. "Now," he said to himself, "I know exactly
what I have to do." Then going to one corner of the space with his back
toward all the rest of the bed he began his work.

[Illustration: Photographs by Edward Mahoney

The Way the Chief Taught His Boys to Handle Tools]

He had a fine spading fork which he had bought a few days before.
Grasping the top of the handle with his right hand, with the left midway
down the handle, he pressed the prongs of the fork with his left foot
vertically into the ground. Then lowering the top of the handle toward
the ground and backward, he slipped his left hand down the handle to
about a foot from the prongs, and drew up the spading fork with earth
on it. This earth he threw a little forward and with the prongs broke up
the lumps. He continued this until all the work was done.

Then he looked at his spading fork, his brand new fork, and found the
prongs quite bent, "The Chief told us to buy decent tools, but I thought