Gardening News from the Past

I've been reading some old newspapers for a project I'm working on and I came across this gardening news from April 5, 1945. It was written by Islay MacLeod who just passed away. (If you don't recognize the name, you still probably knew Islay — she was often seen walking regally down First Street to the Co-op/Post Office etc. in her brilliant yellow beret and vest.) Here's what she wrote in her column Tofino News, that was printed in the West Coast Advocate out of Port Alberni:

Spring has definitely arrived, borne on the wings of a stiff westerly wind. Now with a rattle and clank of tools, the local agriculturalists and landscape gardeners will be able to start tilling the soil and pulling out last year's growth of weeds. Did your squash wilt and die before they had a chance to show their goodness last year? Did the bottom ends of your tomatoes turn brown? Did you white potatoes try to be marbles? Did your cantaloupes taste like pumpkins? Did some unseen pest eat holes in the leaves of your lettuce and beets? If not (though with some exceptions) you must live outside of Tofino's city limits.

Okay so perhaps that wasn't too heartening, but I thought you might find it interesting!