Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1877-02-21
Farming Forty Years Ago.

gan III Icai EHihCoI' blttCiis, ol'te'i
did we regret our large investments
IN pine, when we came to discover
that each seperate tree was as white
elephant on our hands, its trunk ir
hundreds of cases staring me to this
very day. The first year, after erect
ing log cabin, the clinks and cracks
filed in with clay, / cleared q smal'
space of about two acres and planted
it nearly all in potatoes, which grew
remarkably well. My poor wife help
ed ME nobly through all these times,
and but for her assistance, many q
time would have given hp in de-
spai.. Month after month has she
taken ner place in the logging field,
from morning till night, lifting some
times so vchemenlly that, as she her
self has often expressed it the Sparks
flew frae her emu For season OF
two, little by little, our circumstances
we're at least improving, but, sir, dark,
er seasons followed. / have said that
we had to depend upon the Squire for
any pressing necessity. We began to
count up, however, my wife and |,
and found that with flour now, meat
again, and other sundrics, his bill
against us was rapidly enlarging, and
the interest too-S per ccnt.-was be-
ginning to have Il very formidable ap-
pearance i'll our eyes; so we detcrm!n-
ed one season that, come " hat would,
we should cndeavor to do without the
Squire's assistance any longer.
communicating our resolve to our
neighbors sir, neighbors were
neighbors in those days, worthy oftho
name,-they commended it and deter.
mined to do likewise. Well, we cat
ried it out to the tter,-sometirnes
indeed under great disadvantage but
nevertheless we survived it all and
although | cannot say would wish
my dear ones to repeat the same cX.
periencc to the same extent, still |
cannot feel that l myself, nor indeed
my good dame, is much the worse for
1t. One winter, | well remember, it
would indeed have gone hard with us
were il not for mashed turnip., which
we had served up three times daily
for months. Another season we real
" relished, rs far superior to cold
water in lieu OF tea. kind OF coffee
made 10y masking beech leaves in hot
water. And what Of our cattle in
those times , Well, rs a rule, the
oxen Jared tolerably. Them we had
to feed. or but little work could be et-
fecled the following season. But
poor 'BosSy' had often indeed poor
life OF it. So long as food lasted, Of
course she got share, but a spare
one, with the rest bat often has it
given out,-or at least diminished TO
such an extent that no more could be
spared for her, or the oxen would sut-
fer. On the first occasion of this kind
| had made up my mind to kill 'Bos-
sy' rather than starve her, and was 60
ing to put my resolution into practice,
when one of my neighbor Dutchmen
stopped me aud let me into bis plan
Of treating the animals. This was to
gather all the green leaves | could get
in the woods,-anything in fact that
coull by any possibility preserve the
vital spark i'll 'Bossy' until the arrival
of spring. | confess that at first |
grieved to see one OF Gods creatures
unable to stand on her feet through
sheer starvation; but in time | even
got accustomed, perhaps hardened 10
it Our usual employment the, as
early in spring as the snow would
permit, was to assemble first to one
house, then at another's !;
get his COW, now uterly ~ exhausted and
worn to skin and bone, on kind of
rude platform made OF poles or rails
carry her out to spot i'll the woods
from which we had cleared away the
snow there lay her down, and let
her eat around her as best she could
Without rising (for Of her own streyth
she could neither rise nor sland) In
the course of a few hours we would
her in similar manner to an
other spot, aud this round of opela-
tions among different ncighbors and
cows, would often constitute our occu-
patton for perhaps u fortnight. Some
OF the animals, in the course of three
or four days, would b" able to keep
their feet others took one, sometimes
two weeks but, ultimately they all
to take care OF themselves,
and, strange as it may seem, | have