Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1869-10-22

get advertisements for tho Plymouth
Pulpit. If he does, it is without his
know Wedge or consent. If such q report
has been started, it is an absolute duty
to refuts it in this article. However, no
such report has yet been heard OF, and
therefore it is rot necessary to do more
than refu,e it in purely general way
al this time Mr.. Beecher could aug
ment the bulk of the pamphlet to which
his sermons are attached If he chose to
90 around and solicit advertising, but he
would not dream of such a thing. tie
has no time for such recreation. He has
to preach. and he has to make the dedi
cation speeches for all sorts of things,
and he is Obliged to make a few remarks
on nearly all distinguished occasions, be
cause very often Mr.. G.eeIev IS very
busy and cannot come And besides, he
has to carry on his taru
Mr. Beecher's farm consists of thirty
six acres, and is carried on strict scientlf
&c principles. He never puts in any
kind of crop without consulting his
book He plows and hoes. and reaps
and mows by the best authorizes. and
the authorities cost more than the other
farming implements do. As soon as the
library is complete. the farm will begin
TO be profitable Investment. But book
farming has ITS drawbacks. Upon one
occasion it seemed morally certain that
the hay ought to be cut, but the hay
book could not be found, and befor it
was found it was too late, and tie hay
was all spoiled. Mr.. Beecher raises
some of the finest crops of wheat in the
country, but the unfaVorable difference
be wren the cost of producing and the
ma. ket value alter it is produced inter
fered with its success as commercial
enterprise. His special weakness is hogs
however. He considers hogs the best
game the farm affords. He Guys the or
ipina pig for dollar and half, and
feeds him forty dollars worth of corn,
and then sells him for about nine dollars.
This is the only crop he ever makes
any money on. He loses on the corn,
but he makes seven dollars and half on
the hog He does not mind this, because
he never expects to make anything on
corn. And anyway it turns out, he has
the excitement of raising the hog, wheth
er he gets the worth of him or not
His Strawberries would be comfortable
success if the robins would eat turnips.
but they won't, and hence the difficulty.
One of Mr.. Beecher's most harrassing
difficulties IN farming operations comes
of the close resemblance of different sorts
of seeds aud plants to each other. Two
years ago his farsightness warned him
that there was going to be n great search
ty of water-melons. and therefore he put
in crop of twenty seven acres of that
fruit. But when they came up they
turned out to be pumpkins. AID loss was
the consequence. Sometimes his crop
goes into the ground the most promising
sweet potatoes, and come out the internal
est carrots-Though | have lever heard
him express il just in that way. Whom
he bought his farm he found one egg in
every hens nest on the place He said
that here was just the reason why so
many farmers failed; they scattered their
forces too much; concentration was the
IDEA. So he got those eggs together and
rut them all under one old experienced
hen. That hen roasted over that con
tract night and day for eleven weeks, un
der the a. xious personal supervision of
Mr. Beecher himself, but she could not
"phase" those eggs Way? Because
they were those Infamous porcelain things
which are used by ingenious and fraudu-
lent farmers a. " nest eggs" But per
haps Mr.. Bnechcr's most disastrous ex.
pertinent was the time he tried to raise
an immense crop of dried apples. Ho
planted fifteen hundred dollars worth,
but never one of them sprouted. He
has never been able to understand, to
this dav, what vas the matter with those
apples.
Mr.. B echer's farm is no: triumph.
1t would be easier on him if he worked
il on shares with sore one; but he can
not find a. yone who is willing to pay
half the expense. and not many that are
able. Still persistence in any case is
bound to succeed. He was a very infer,
Tor farmer when he first began, but a
prolonged and unfinching assault upon
his agricultural difficulties has had its eff
feet at last, and be is fast arising from
affluence to poverty. MARK TWAIN.