For
Fifty Years This County Has Led The United States In The Value
Of Cereal Products.
Lancaster, the county seat, has a population
of fifty-eight thousand.
It is one of the oldest towns in the
state and was its capital in 1799. It was also the capital of
the United States for one day, September 27, 1777.
We resolved to keep close watch as we drove across this
wonderful agricultural county to see what we could learn of the
methods employed in producing such bountiful crops. Surely, we
thought, here will be a region lacking many of the beauties of
rural communities. But what was our surprise when we found fine
homes embowered in grand old trees. The dooryards contained many
trees, shrubs and flowers - not cluttered up, but most admirably
arranged, showing forethought and good taste. Then, the glowing
masses of the flower-bordered gardens were a quaint commingling
of use and beauty. "Squares of onions, radishes, lettuce,
rhubarb, strawberries - everything edible," reminded one of the
lovely weedless vegetable plots of the Rhine country. Theirs
seemed the homes which Gene Stratton Porter described in her
incomparable manner in her "Music of the Wild." "Peter Tumble-
down" has long ago moved from Lancaster county and only a few
distant relatives yet remain.
We were delighted to find large barns in which the implements
were sheltered. Nearly all contained coats of paint and the
stables were whitewashed, giving an added appearance of
cleanliness to the place as well as destroying lice and vermin.
Everything spoke of thrift.
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