The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1882-06-02
Henry Ward Deecher's Farm.

Mark Twain has written OF Mr.,
Beecher's old farm on the Hudson river
as follows:
Mr.. Beecher's farm consists OF thirty
six acres, and is carried on on strict
scientific principles He never puts in
any part OF q 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 tho library is complete
the farm will begin to be o profitable
investment. But book-fariaing has its
drawbacks. Upon one 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 il
was too late, and the hay was all
spoiled. MIR. Beecher raises some OF
the finest crops OF wheat in the coun-
try, but the unfavorable difference
between the cost Of producing it and its
market value after It is produced has
interfered considerably with its success
rs O commercial enterprise. His special
weakness is hogs, however. He con-
siders hogs the best game farm pro-
duees. He buys tho original pig for
$3.50, and feeds him $40 worth OF corn,
and then sells him for about 50. This
is the only crop he ever makes money
on. He loses on the corn, but he makes
$3.50 on the hog. He does not mind
this, because he never expects TO make
anything on corn. And, any way it
turns out, he has the excitement of
raising the hog, whether he gets the
vu0Sfh nj him ~ H,a et~ NJ. -.
would be comfortable success il the
robins would eat turnips, but they won't,
and hence the difficulty.
One OF Mr.. Beecher's most harrassing
difficulties in his farming operations
comes Of the close resemblance of dif-
ferent sorts OF seeds and plants to each
other. Two years ago his farsighted-
ness warned him that there was going
to be great scarcity OF watermelons,
and therefore he put in q crop OF TWEEN
ty-seyen acres NJ that f-vit. Dut when
they came up they turned out to be
p1%paiRs, qgaAeafsSseas 'GIf porisonr mo 81 Gle
crop goes into the ground the most
promising sweet potatoes, and comes up
carrots. When he bought his farm he
found one egg in every hens nest on
the place. He said that here was just
the reason so many farmers failed
they scattered thei, forces too much
concentration was the idea. So he
gathered those eggs together, and put
them all under one oIperienced old
hen. That hen roasted over that con-
tract night and day for eleven weeks,
uader the anxious personal supervision
OF Mr.. Beecher himself, but she could
not phase" those eggs. Why? Be-
cause they were those infamous porce-
lain things which are used by ingenious
and fraudulent farmers as "nest eggs"
But perhaps Mr.. Beecher's most disas-
trous experience was the time he tried
to raise an immense crop of dried ap-
pies. He planted $1,000 worth, but
never one of them sprouted. He has
never been able to understand to this
day what was the matter with those
Mf. Beecher's farm is not triumph,
II would be easier on him if he worked
it on shares with some one but he can.
not find anybody who is willing to
stand half the expense, and not many
that are able. Still, persistence in any
cause is bound to succeed. He was
veiy inferior farmer when he first be-
gan, bat a prolonged and unflinching
assault upon his agricultural diilicnl'ies
has had its effect at last, and he is now
fast rising from afiaence to pov,ny.