Litchfield enquirer., 1881-01-20
The Farmers Convention at New
 prnStOn
ny PEN DR&oN.

BY PEN DRk6oN.
 It is remarkable what strange and unthought of things will trsnspire right under one's nose.
 Now it never 80 much as dawned upon our unsophsticattd mind that New Preston own ed thriving farmers club till last evening
 when all the members, 1t seems, met at the
 postofice at early candle light, or right away
 after supper, as soon as the cows were milked
 and the chickens had perched upon their nsc- turial roosts, drew their chairs to the stove,
 spraw led upon the counters, rolled tobacco ouids from one cheek to the other, expectorat- ed into the stoye when they aimed correctly cleared their throats, opened the meeting and held the session till it was time everybody but burglars were abed. It seemed to devolve upon "Jim"to open the meeting, at least he did so by ejaculating during moments silence.
 for chopping wood. A feller'd have to work
 mighty lively to keep warm, l tell you. '" Right there somebody inquired, ''How much can you cut in day ?" 'Waal, can cut three cord and rank her up," ''Pshaw." in- terjected man from Pond District, "When made business of chopping wood used to easily put up my five cords day, and make no bones about it either ''What was it, four-foot wood ?" asked man who had hither
 to been silent. Yes sir, it was and believe I could do it again, old as I am." Then there ensued heated discussion over the matter, the majority maintaining that there must be some mistake about it, for no man could do it: but man from Kent Hollow, who had thus far sat with hk elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands, raised his head, and with truthfulness stamped on every feature, said, ''See here, gentle..ien, there aint much about that to brag on. Did you ever hear of Jake Slicer?" Nobody had ''Waal, he used to work for the old man when l was eighteen or whereabouts, and he used to cut and pile his seven cords about every day, he did. He was the best man to chop ever see. l never see man that could hold candle to him." His remarks seemed to act like a wet blanket on the proceedings, and everybody sat glum for some little time. At last "Al." the stonc- cutter
 said that it looked like pretty big story, how ever, he didn't think 1t was any bigger job to cut and pile up seven cords of four foot wood than it was to saw and split three cords into stove length in ten hours, and he'd done that and could do it again, although his principal business was hewing tombstones "Humph !" ejaculated the professor. who sat as near the stove as he could possibly get without sitting upon it, with the ear lappets of his cap turned down and his overcoat collar turned up, ''Humph! You must be related to the man who could cradle five acres of rye in day !; and I'd rather see both done before believe either, plaguey sight. Before the stone-cut- ter could deny the insnuation of the professor, and agriculturist from Baldwin Hill who was in the act of taking ''chaw of tobacker," of about quarter of pound in weight, said | while he held the coveted chew midway be. tween hls tobacco box and his mouth, Hook here, 'spose you think five acres of rye is a big piece to cradle in one day, but, fourteen year ago the 9th of July, I cradled seven acres and half. Don't 'spose could do it now, but if 1 recollect right wont very much tuckered then, and it was 8 tremendous big growth too" Then, during the silence that ] ensued, he rolled the quid right into his left cheek and gazed around complacently, After a moment young iman who had hitherto been listener, and who propably knew more about sparkling than he did farming .ventured the remark that the statement of the agrlcultur- ist didn't look reasonable "A man couldn't reap seven and a half acres of rye with pair of horses and reaper, the longest day the sun ever shone." He might have added more but 1 the horny handed agriculturist looked daggers 1 at him and growIed, "Whst in thunder do you know about cradling or anything else! You never ground scythe. broke a pair of steers, hoed a hill of corn, milked COW, or moved a spear of grass About all ever seen you do is to ride around in pianer. boxed buggy with some of these 'ere village gals The young man was pretty effectually smashed, ' and never said another word during the even- ing. It was some minutes after this, and not till some little matters of discussion of no particular interest had been satisfactorily set. | tied, before the meeting pursued the even ten or of it's way. Then man from New Preston Hill, part of the country noted for large crops in summer and roaring winds and freez l ing cold in winter, explained to the assembly how he set out an acre of tobacco on the 22d of July. topped it the 18th of August. cut i, tho triv f fho fret hoJ three thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds which he sold for twenty eight cents pound and the whole crop proved to be wrappers of first quality and after all his long and varied l to raise good crop of tobacco man must 1 set it out in season and take good care of it. l The professor hitched his chair little nearer the stove, drew his head down into his over. coat collar six inches or so further, while with some trepidation he put the question. "Did you say you transplanted the plants the 22d oi July3" The New Preston Hill man looked at him m amazemcnt, while the miller who 6 short time before had come in, shook little
 meal from his coat and said, What does 6 teacher like you know about raising tobacco. ' l And the professor retorted, About as much
 as miller l reckon" And that ended that.
 Then Wat" taking advantage of the slight
 pause said, Now that you fellows have told
 all you know about most everything, I've go,
 question I'd like to proposed to this august
 body. It nevers been satisfactorily answered
 yet. although it has been argued by a good
 many agriculturists. WhatI want to know
 is, which is the forward end of flaming
 mill ?" The discussion on this importan, question immediately waxed hot and hotter, some maintaining one thing and some another, unfil one man, his long locks full of
 nay seed, told another. 'You tarnel fool, you. | ha f0rta ard md f,f all.