Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1856-06-12
erandfather's Old Farm.


s,r,. s,rtv wears or more ago, neighbor Of mine
q, - Mr. Smith, occupied an immense tract
- i.,d xvhich he called . :" farm. Il was about
sh,rty rods In width, and upwards OF two miles in
ienrth-an old Indian grant, upon winch he had
80 brought up " farmer and where his father
III -. o,,ndfather had lived before him.
Eact generation of the Smiths that had dwelt up-
an This strip of land had contrived TO farm it, each
In the same old way year in and year out. from
f.ther to SON. The place had never known dollars
;cumbrance: scores of Smiths had been reared upon
It. generation after generation came and passed away
there and the same cart path, and the same dilapi
dated old wall and santies and decayed trees were
still visible-almost the same furrow had been turned
fof q hundred years and more when, as had been
thu custom of the Smith families on previous
sions it finally came the turn OF the occupant to
resign grandfather old place to his only son, Ben
Smith, now come to Thirty.
For five and forty years at least mad Zen fathcr
carried on this old farm. In all that long period
and regular as the year rolled, SO regular had Mr..
smith ploughed up his eight acres, moved all the
grass that Providence would grow for him. pastured
his ten sheep reared his four head Of cattle, atened
his three hogs and wlntered as many cows But this
was not ALL
True, Mr. Smith had q great farm He toiled like
q trooper, from daylight to dark. He raised his
pork corn (such as it was,) his cattle fodder; cut
HON his own forest the wood that he burned;
owed any man farthing econtrivedeyen to pay his
own town and county tax But he was literally even
with the world for he owed one, and no one owed
him dollar And 50 he lived up to seventy But,
said the old to his son, one evening" as they sat
before the Winters fire :: I'm getting old. I've
worked pretty hard here for agood many years. and
have concluded to give up. It's your turn now.
my turn, for what!' asked Ben.
To take charge of the farm Ben. Your young.
stout and healthy. I'm going to give up the home
stead to you and if you continue to labor constantly
a. have done, and as your grandfathers did afore
u.s. YOU can get good Twin off on we have done
We cannot take anything out of the world with u.s.
Ben. Naked we come into it and SO must go out
But the old place is free from incumbrance there
never was a dollar mortgage on it, and hope that
there never will be- shall give you the farm. free
and clear tomorrow" Ben slept on this, and next
day he was master Of " farm thirty rods wi 'e AMI
two and half miles long. ~ shall take the place
father," he said, and carry it on but not you
and grandfather, and his father did And though the
old gentleman shook his head and looked earnestly
the bridge of his specs, at his son, Ben was
good his word forthwith he went to work in earnest
Spring Ben went into the old eight acre
field and poughed up one half Of it, Upon this he
had deposited the whole OF the season. manure, that
had hitherto been splrey spread upon double the
face He narrowed these four acres and narrowed
them carefully HOeing time came, and Ben had
only one half the space to go over. Though the
corn and potatoes looked finely, aud the beets the
cabbages and the carrots grew maryelously the old
man grew crusty, and declared it would mt do and
that there wouldn't be roots enough But Ben went
right along his way. At his second hoeing Ben
went into his four acres, but not with hand hoe.
He got some kind of jim crack las the old man called
IT, htched to the old mare heels instead of hoeing his
potatoes man fashion but that cultivator, as Ben
called II, w0uldnt work no how Ben continued the
use Of the cultivator, however the old man con-
tinued to grumbe, and the corn and potatoes con-
tinued to flourish. Ben Smith had gone to n
neighboring town early in the Spring, and in debt
(en was the first Smith that did this thing for
two hundred bushels of " nasty ashes" which he
tuggcd the cattle to draw to the farm, and with which
he top-dresscd the meadow Here an innovation
sure. And he subscribed for a weekly paper too
what with his jim crack OF cultivator his ashes and
book farming, the old gentleman nearly cr,zcd.
II would never do to go at this rate said the old
gentleman. But the four of and potat oes
grew finely. Never had the Smiths seen such corn
and pototoes and carrots. The grass came up thick
strong and thrifty and the harvest time came round
at last The cattle had plenty Of good feed and they
were at and sleek; the pigs fat, the old horse
fat and jolly Ms he garnered his high corn bis l
potatoes his generous sized beets and his great bright
yellow carrots Ben had found time during his even
ings to read agricultural articles and to post himself
In regard to the markets
Winter came The good old farmer entered the
barn. 1t was crammcd with hay and corn stalks and
wheat and rye. The granary loaded with corn
and Ben, who had been carefully taught to shell the
cobs across the edge Of the shovel stood beside
another stupid machine throwing ia bushe OF eass
ut the top, while the big golden kernels rushed out
In q constant shower at the bottom. Ben Smith had
squaadered six dollars in cash upon corn-shecr
venerable progetor, he sighed and turned to the
barn again. The old man examined the harvesting
There was everything in profusion and only half the
eight acres had been titled Ben pointed To this
gratifying result, and his father only shook his head
and said: - Ben, you have been lucky we've had a
remarkable season. Things have grown finely A
very forward season. Ben. very"
Ben Smith, Jr., only smiled at this. He killed on
the old back gruntere that had been bred upon
the ancient farm from time immemoria and bought
six imported Sutiolks-instead of the three alligaors
that had previously been annually tolerated ON the
smith place The superanuated COWS, with crumped
horns were turned into beef and brace of shining
Durhains supplied their places. subs,il pillow
found Its way into the yard morning early in the
spring. and a new tangled harrow followed this
Then came new patent churn. then capital straw
cutter, then more nasty ashes, then seed drillan,
there end said len senior to she internal ma
chimes that Ben junior cluttercd up the place with
Ben hal been no idler meantime. lie had drawn
Into the cow yard two hundred loads of pond muck
the previous fall He got plaster and bone dust an
mixed with IL, and when February came il was
heaped out generously upon the four acres again -
Everything went on smilngly, and at hayins time
the cap shcaf of machinery arrived What on earth
v thats asked the old gentleman, Ben put his
team before new horse rake. Ben laughed outright
and asked his respected dad why he didn't real the
papers But his father said he had no occasion, Ac
knew enough. Again the old barns crcaked under
their generous harvest Of hay, grain and vegetables
and declared that the season had been remarkable
very!
Ben hadn't room to stow away two thirds of his
year s. produce But his hay excellent, his po-
tatoes were noble ones his carrots bees and onions
were splendid he had surplus Of rut, bagts by the
cord, turnps and squashes and cabbages by the tun
oil OF which readily found good market seven miles
distant nobody believed ID at first but all these fine
products really came from the old Smith farm When
the and sleet ratified around the ancient man.