The Baltimore County union., 1883-02-03
FANCY FARMING.
Henry Ward Beocher's Farm-A Humor-
GUS Account OF His Agricultural
Operations.

MIR. Beecher's farm consists Of thirty
six acres, and is carried on on strict
scientific principles. He never puts in
any part of a crop without consulting
his books. 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 the library is complete the
farm will begin to be profitable in
vestment. But book learning 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 il was found il was
too late, and the hay was all spoiled
Mr.. Beecher raises some Of the finest
crops of wheat in the country, but the
unfavorable difference between the cost
Of producing it and its market value af-
ter it is produced has interfered consid-
erably with its success rs a commercial
enterprise. His special weakness is
hogs, however. He considers hogs the
best game farmer produces. He buys
the original pig for 81. so and feeds him
$40 worth Of corn, and then sells him
for about So. This is the only crop he
makes any money on. He loses on the
corn but makes $3.50 on the hog. He
does not mind this, because he never
expects to make anything on corn.-
And, any way il turns out, he has the
excitement of raising the hog, whether
he gets the worth of him or not. His
strawberries would be 4 comfortable
success if the robins would eat turnips,
but they won't and hence the difficulty.
One OF Mr.. Bcccher's most harassing
difficulties in his farming operations
comes Of the close resemblance of diff
ferent sorts Of seeds and plants to each
other. Two years ago his far-sighted-
ness warned him that there was going
to be great scarcity OF watermelons,
and therefore he put in crop Of twen-
ty-seven acres Of that fruit, but when
they came up they turned out to be
pumpkins, and dead loss was the con-
sequence. Sometimes portion of his
crop goes into the ground the. most
promising sweet potatoes, and comes
out the infernalest carrot-though have
never heard him express it just in that
way. 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 scatter their
forces too much concentration was the
idea. So he gathered those eggs to.
gether and put them all under one ex.
perienced old hen. That hen roasted
over the contract night and day for
eleven weeks, under the anxious super
vision of Mr.. Beecher himself, but she
could not "phase" those eggs. Why?
Because they were those infamous por.
celain things which are used by the in
genious and fraudulent farmers as "nest
eggs" But perhaps Mr.. Beecher's most
disastrous experience was the time he
tried to raise an immense crop of dried
apples. He planted SI,soo worth, but
never one OF them sprouted. He has
never been able to understand TO this
day what was the matter with those ap-
Piles.
Mr.. Beecher's farm is not a triumph.
II would be easier on him il he worked
it on shares with some one bu; he can
not find anybody who is willing to stand
half the expense, and not many who are
able. Still persistence in any cause is
is bound to succeed. He was 4 very
inferior farmer when he first began but
prolonged and unfinching assault up.
on his agricultural difficulties has had
its effect at last, and he is now fast ris.
ing from afiluence to poverty.-Nark
Zioain.