The Newberry herald. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1865-1884, 1882-05-18
JOB PRINTING
HENRY WARD BEECHER,S
FARM.

-..... FA tM.
Mark Twain has written of Mr..
Beecher's old farm on the Hudson
river as follows:
Mr.. Beecher's farm consists of thir-
ty-six acres, and is carried on on strict
scientific principles. He never puts
in any part of crop without con-
snlting his book. he plows, and
reaps, and digs, and soWs according to
the best authorities, and the aathc.
rites cost more than the other farm
ing implements do. AS soon as the
library is complete the farm viii be-
gin to be a profitable investment. But
book.farming has its drawbacks. Up
op 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 foand it was
too late, aud the hay was all spoiled.
Mr.. Beecher raises some of the finest
crops Of wheatiu the country, but the
unfavorable difference between the
cost of producing it and its market,
value after it is produced has inter
fered considerably with its success as
commercial enterprise. His special
weakness is hogs, however. He con-
siders hogs the best game farm pro.
duces. He buys the original pig for
$3.50, and feeds him $40 worth Of
corn, and then sells him for about &c..
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 ex-
poets tomake anything on corn. And,
auy way it turns out, he has the ex-
citement of raising the hog, whether
| he gets the worth of him or not. His
STRAWBERRIES would be a comfortable
| success if the robins would eat turn
ips, but they WON'T and hence the
difficulty.
| One of Mr.. Beecher's most harras-
| sing difficulties in his farming opera
| ton comes of the close resemblance Of
| different sorts of seeds and plants to.
| each other. Two years ago his far
sightedness warned him that there
was going to a great scarcity Of
watermelons, and therefore he put in
a crop of twenty-seVen acres of that
| fruit. But when they came up
they turned out to be pump.
| kins, and dead loss was the con-
sequence. Sometimes portion fthe
/ crop goes into the ground the most
promising sweet potatoes, and comes
up carrots. When he bought his
farm he found one egg 10 every hens
nest on the place. He said that here
was just the reason that SO many far
mers failed they scattered their forces
too much J; concentration was the idea.
So he gathered those eggs together,
and put them all under one experienced
old hen. That hen roasted over that
contract night and dsy for eleven
weeks, under the anxious personal
of Mr.. Beecher himself, but she could
not "phase" those eggs. Why? Because
they were those Infamous porcelain
things which are used By ingenious
and fraudulent farmers as 'tnest
eggs" But perhaps Mr. Beecheps
most disastrous experience was the
time he tried to raise an immense
crop of dried apples. He planted
800 worth, but never one Of them
sprouted. He has never been able to
understand to this day what was the
matter with those apples.
Mr.. Beecher's farm is not a
triumph. 1t would be easier on him
if he worked it on shares with some
one; but he cannot find anybody who
is willing to stand half the expense,
and not many that are able. Stall,
persistence iI any cause is bound to
succeed. He was very inferior far
mer when be first began, but pro-
longed and unaincbing assault upon
his agricultural difficulties has had its
effect at last, and he ia now fast
rising from af1uence to poverty.
| Nontontma,t ahidos with truk11