Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-11-13

two crops off the same field at once.
When | caught him in town one day he
wouldn't admit that frrming was a science,
and that good farmer must have the in
telligence of a successful merchant; but
didn I care TO argue with him He was
getting ready to build II few rods of rail
fence. and was bnying u step-ladder to en-
able him to carry up the fifth and sixth
rails. He died after harvesting bis first
crops; and when crowd of US went out
to the auction we found that he had been
planting rutahagas under an old shed.
where the poor things wouldn't get sun
struck or drowned out.
That case wasn't more singular than
| Blackstone's. He was middle-aged.
corpulent. wheezy voiced lawyer, and
might have been leading light at the bar
thousand years before / knew him. He
had consumptive son, n daughter with
weak eyes. and wife who could only get
around on crutches. When Blackstone
came snto the office to advertise the flct
that he wanted to lease "a modest, com.
pact, eighty situated, romantic looking
farm" | asked him if he had had any ex-
perience.
e Do you think I'm fool" he roared,
in reply. guess man who has prac-
ticed law for thirty -four years, and who
has been justice of the peace. postmaster,
and assessor, knows enough to run n
farm! want rest and recreation, sir; and
my family want rest and recreation, sir !;
and we'll take farm, and rest up. and
make some money. and by and Ivy return
to public life, sir"
H., l,,,E Lab
get to keep track Of his case. He secured
II farm and took possession. He trimmed
the orchard out of season, and killed most
Of the trees. When he should have been
sowing his wheat he was inventing pat
ent hens nes!, and when he ought to have
been hoeing corn he was making q water
wheel for the creek to amuse his poor
daughter lie was delighted when his
corn shot up two feet high and grew no
more, rs it wouldn't be SO much trouble to
pick off the ears; and when wheat, oats,
rye and pumpkins were all growing to-
gcther in one field, he wished he had only
thought to mix in few potatoes and Gu
cumbers. He didn't pillow his land as
other farmers do. but set stake in the
centre of the field and plowed in circles
tlOunu IL. uC luet WAS luti,
field looked more romantic, and he further
explained:
" Nature has made every thing to work
to common centre. There is centre to
storms, to frosts, to seasons, TO trade and
finance, and why should there not be II
centre to II corn-lield?"
There was centre-it was half an
acre of mul-hole. Blackstone insisted
that he gathered fifteen ears OF corn from
hat field; but lawyers always exaggeratc
bout half, you know. The son died
while trying to cut wood enough to cook
elmer. The daughter got the idea, one
day, that one Of the COWS had the head
ache. and she was bathing the poor crest
rre's brow will camphOr, when the ami
mai struck her in the face with one of its
horns and inflicted injuries which soon
rnded in death. Blackstone then went
INTO stock raising; but, after Il year,
having collected together an old blind
nnrse and IL yearling calf. he and his wife
moved away in The night, and have never
been heard Of since.
Aiam didn't know much about farming
when he found himself and wife on the
wrong side of the Garden of z len, but h.
scrubbed around and posted himself us
fast rs he could. lie wasn't in for making
lueney, but it was question of bread and
butter and vegetables. His ways have
been improved on, and improvements are
still being made; but it don't necessarily
follow that because II man can mix hair
oil, hammer out horse shoe pout law,
or pull II TOOTH h. can also take farm
and become farmer.
DR.. Beech WAS remarking, last year,
hat he'd retire from the practice of medi-
cine and pursue agriculture for while.
didn't want to vex him; but while | was
wondering if he'd soak his seed-corn in
lrnica TO prevent the cornstalkS from be
coming weak in the back, and if he
wouldn't administer chloroform to his
caobages TO give them q quiet nights
rest, he observed:
What ails the farming community -
the fact that ngricultursts are an extrav-
agant set. On nv farm nothing shall be
wasted Every animal and fowl with too
great an appetite shall be toned with med
icine, Every one with weak stomach
shall be toned up by daily doses. There
shall be bugs to eat the plants, grasshop-
pers to eat the bugs, fowls to eat the
grasshoppers. and | shall eat the fowls"
He tried farming, and the sheriff ate
him.
If any reader has an idea that l am a
farmer, he is mistaken. True. once hired
out to n armer to split 100000 rails in
exchange for an old gander and broken
down tanning mill; but after splitting fit
teen rails decided not to take advan age
Of an innocent man. | know IL carrot
from beet, especially if it has II sigu
hung to it, and once in great while can
tell field of barley from field of wheal
or oats; but don't ambush farmers on
the highway and make speeches to them
on the rotation of crops. There are some
hings about farm work very pleasant to
me. like to sit in rocking chair on The
veranda and see the boys digging to saw,
TWO acres of fresh cut hay from Il thunder
storm. like to sit under the harvest
apple trees, lafaround the currant bushes
take my chances at the dinner table, and
give opinion on two gallon jug of cider
Beyond these few things, agriculture is Il
mystery to me, and always will be. Ger
Tain of my friends have received written
instructions to the effect that in case be
come lnnatic, or my head gets soft, to
keep watchful eye on me, and to pusl
me into the river the moment they hear
me talk about taking II farm.-By NJ
| Quad, III Western Farmer Almanac.