The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1882-05-20
Harry Ward Beecher'o Farm.

Harry Ward Beecher's Farm.
Mark Twain has written M Mr..
BeecoDes'x old farm Un the Hull,~,u River
~ follows:
Mr.. Bxsther's farm conxi.ts If thirty.
| SIX xcres. md ami i~ carvi. Il IN on >t,i,a
scientific prin' ip'es. He never put. in
any part Ut y cr,p without .r'nsaItInx
ms b<'ok. He pt'w~. amt rals an.!
digs. aud sOws a.va,r,ling 10 the l.. II au-
thOrt(tes. and THE autim,rities csr.t mao Z.
than the other farming tn'l,!e'il. nt~ tl.'.
Az sAn'n 10 the library is .s'''.l ,lete the
farm will I'ey'n to IL: n r'fitat'le imve,st-
n'ent. But 1xOk-farminy has II draw
('acks. Up"n Que srcsssiOu, when !,
see'n,td ns"rxlly certain that the lsay
ought to be cut, the liay-lxn'k could net
he found, and before it was .un.l it WAS
too )ate, and tire hay was all slx'ile, !.
Mr.. Bet'ch.r rai~ed some a. the fines,
crops Of wheat in the c''untry. hut the
uO!AvOrAb'e difference between the Cs'<t
Ut producing it AMI it's market value
after IL h l,rs>(luresl has inter eresl con-
s,drralbly with l.. ~,,evt.s. u. u ,-",,,,,er-
cial enterprise. His special weak nt.
the best game n farm, l,r.u!uct~. He
buys the original III: :"r 81 -. and fec,is
him 80 worth ut corn. AMI then sells
him Tor aln'ut 81. + il is the "uiv crop
he ever lnake~ any money on. h. l'sss
On the cOrll, but I've makes $50 Oh the
hog. He d',es not mimi this. i,ecuu-e
he never expects to make anything on
cOru. And, any way it turns cut, h..
has the excitement W missing the hog.
whether he gets the wOr h M him or
not. His Strawberries would IN. u com
Portable SUCCESS il the rIi,in. w"l!b eat
turnip<. but they won't, and hence the
difficulty.
difficulties In Iis farming operations
Comes Of the close resemblance ., difl;r-
ent sorts of seeds AMI plants to each
other. Two years ago lis tar~ighte.l-
ne>s warned him that there ss:.s going
to lie great scarcity ri wAlcr,ne"m-.
and therefore lie tut ID u crop twenty
sevcn ucrpy 1T that fruit. But Wien
they came up they tur"e'l out IL lx'
pun. .>ins, and a dead l.'s.. WAS the con-
stt:l ace. Sometimes u l"'rti"n Oi his
crop :.ocs into the ground the most
promising sweet Potatoes, AMI comes up
the i.fermalest carrots though l have
never heard him express it il just that
way. When he bought III. :Arni he
foun,l one egg in every hens me-: on the
place. He s.i.l that ',tre Was lust lie rsa-
s0n some farmers taile !; they scattered
their forces too much; concentration
was the idea. SO lie gathered those
eggs tgetler, and pu. them ali under
one experienced old hen. That hen
rO,sted over that contract night and uav
for eleven weeks. under the anxious
personal supervision "f Mr.. Btyy'hrr
himself. b''tshe could not ''Pl,a*e' those
eggs. Why i,ec:.i,se they were those
infamous porcelain things which are
used by ingenious and fraudulent tarni-
ers as "nest eggs.' But PERHAPS Mr.
Beecher's most disastrous exp .rie,,ce
was the time he tried tn raise an ini-
merse crop Of dried apples. II: plant
ed 81, 500 worth. but never one Of them
sprnutetl. He has never le"n able to
understand t' this day what Was ti'e
matter with Osc apples.
Mr.. Beecher'~ farm Is not 4 triumph.
It would Ike easier on hin, if he worked
il an shares with some one; but he CAN
not find nybotiy who is wil'in. tos;sn'l
hal the expense, ansi not nia:'y i:a' are
abe. Still persistence in any c:l,,.e l.
bound tO succeed. H. was Il very in
ferior farmer when lie first began, hut Il
pl,,IOn Ell AMI lniiin'.!,iny assault upon
his agricultural difficulties has had its
effect ut last, and i'e is NOW fast arising
from atHuence IL poverty.
Tie word carat" usc.: 10 ex .rtss the
finenrss Of gold, is 50 called from. All
Abysslnian lcan, which from the time
Of its gathering varies ve:y little in It's
weight, ard for this reason is uSesi in
Africa Us u weight for gold, Us it is in
India for gems and pearls. 1t il. with
us, un imaginary weight, used t" ex-
,.res- the proportion Of gold ina given
n,:,ss of metal. Thus, ii an ounce 0i
gold is divided into II parts or ''arats,
then gold ~ c:lr;.ts fine is that in which
20 parts are pure metal, and 1 parts sill
yer, copper or some either alloy.