The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-01-04

Mark Twain writes to the Buffalo Fix.
press Mr. Beecher's farm consists ol
thirty-six acres, and is carried Oh on strict
scientific principles. He never puts in
any part of crop without consulting his
book. He plows, and reaps, and digs,
and sows according to the best authorities
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
o.e occasion, when it seemed morally
certain that the hay ought to be cut, the
hay book could not be found, and before
it was found it was too late and the hay
was all spoiled Mr.. Beecher raises some
of the. finest crops of wheat in the country,
but the unfavorable difference between
the cost of producing it and its market
value after it is produced has interfered
considerably with its success as a CONNER
cial enterprise. His especial weakness is
hogs, however. He considers hogs the
best game farm produces. He buys
the original pig for a dollar and a half,
and feeds him forty dollars worth Of corn
and then sells him for about nine dollars
This is the only crop he makes any money
on. He loses on the corn, but he makes
seven dollars and half on the hogs. lie
does not mind this, because he never ex-
poets to make anything on corn, anyway
And any way it turns out, he has the ex.
citement of raising the hog any how
whether he gets the worth of it or not
His Strawberries would be comfortable
success if the robins would eat turnips
but they won't, hence difficulty. One Of
Mr.. Beecher's most harrassing difficulties
in his farming operations comes in the
close resemblance of different sorts o.
seeds and plants to each other Tive
years ago, his farsightedness warned hin
that there was going to be great scarcity
eff watermelons, and therefore he put in t
crop of twenty-sevcn acres of that fruit
But when they came up they turned ou
to be pumpkins, and dead loss was tho
consequences. Sometimes portion o
his crop goes into the ground the most
promising sweet potatoes, and comes W
the infernalest though never
heard him express it in just that way
When he bought his farm he found on
egg in every hens nest on the place. H'
said that here was just the reason why 81
many farmers iailed-they scattered
forces too much-concentratio was tn,
idea. SO he gathered those eggs togethe
and put them all under one experience,
old hen. The hen roasted over that con
tract night and day for eleven weeks,un
der the anxious personal supervision o
Mr.. Beecher himself, but she could no
phase" those eggs Why? Beeaus
they We're those infamous porcelain thing
which are used by ingenious and fradn
lent farmers as nest eggs" Bnt per
haps Mr.. Beecher's most disastrous ex
perience was the time he tried TO raise a
immense crop of dried apples. lie plant
ed fifteen hundred dollars worth, bu
never one of them sprouted He ha
never been able to understand TO this day
what was the matter with those apple,
Mr.. Beecher's farm is not triumph. |
would be easier on him il he worked
on shares with some one but he canno
find anybody who is willing to stand ha
the expense, and not many that are abl,
Still, persistence in any ease is bound (
succeed He was very inferior farmC
when he first begun, but prolonged an
unAinching assault upon his agriculture
difficulties has had its effect at las
aud he is fast rising from afiiuence I
poverty.
Tue Mosr HERoiC Girl ON RECORD
At Pugwash, Canada, few nights ag,
the house of a family named Crowly ha'
ing taken fire, all the inmates e,
cept three small children had escaped, b,
fire below made it impossible to reac
them. Finally the mothers scream
awakened the eldest, daughter twel,
F years old, who came to the window an
was urged hy her mother to throw herse
out but she answered, "No, my broth'
and sister must be saved" She then r.
turned through the heat and smoke twic
and after throwing the two younger chill
ren from the window, she let herself drC
: to the ground distance of sixteen fee
and when she rose said, 81 am dol
, mother, but have saved my brother al
sister from being burnt up The mot
. er and children then walked six huudrt
f and seventy yards naked, flor none of Il
clothing had been saved to the neare
: neighbor's house, where the little heroin
. terribly burnt, shocked with the fall, Al
I chilled with the exposure, died early Il
next morning.