The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1885-03-26
AS AN AGRICULTURIST.
The Gentle William Tilleth the Soil, and
Telleth of His Strange and Exciting
Experiences.

| +lc Utntle WI lliteth the SO1i, and
| Telleth of His Strange and Exciting
/ Experiences.
| During the past season, writes Bill
Nye to the Northeastern Miller, | was
| considerably interested in agriculture.
lmet with some success, but not enough
| To madden me with joy. 1t takes a
| good deal of success to unscrew my
| reason and make it totter on its throne.
| I've had trouble with my liver, and
| various other abnormal conditions OF
tle vital organs, but old reason sits on
his or her throne, as the case may be,
! through it all.
/ Agriculture has a charm about it
| which | can not adequately describe.
| livery product of the farm is furnished
by nature with something that loves it,
50 that it will never be neglected. The
grain crop is loved b. the weevil, the
| Hessian fly, and the chinch-bug; the
watermelon, the squash, and the Gu
| cumber are loved by the squaSh-bug;
fhe potato is loved by the potato-bug;
/ the sweet-cOrn is loved by the ant, thou
| ,luggard; the tomato is loved by the
cut-worm; the plum is loved by the
olrcullio, and so forth, and so forth, so
that no plant that grows need be all
aower. early blooming and extreme
| y dwarf joke for the table. Plant as
soon as there is no danger of frosts in
| drills four inches apart. When ripe,
| pull it, and eat raw with vinegar. The
red ants may be added to taste.)
Well, l began early to spade up my
ingle-worms and other pets to see if
| they had withstood the severe winter.
found they had. They were unusual
| ~ bright and cheerful. The potato
bugs were l;ttle sluggish at first, but
as the spring opened and the ground
warmed up they pitched right in and
N May looked splendidly. was most
worried about my cut-wOrms. Away
along in April had not seen cut
/ worm, and | began to fear they had
suffered and perhaps perished in the eX-
IRENE cold of the previous winter.
One morning late in the month, how
ever, | saw a cut-worm come out from
| behind q cabbage stump and take off
| MS ear-muff. He was a little stiff in
the joints, but he had not lost hope. ]
saw at once now was the time to assist
him if | had 4 spark of humanity left.
searched every work | could find on
agriculture to find out what it was that
farmers fed their blamed cut-worms,
but all scientists seemed to be silent.
read the agricultural reports, the die
tionary. and the encyclopedia. but they
| didn't throw any light on the subject.
| got wild. | feared that had brought
but one cut-worm through the winter.
Il Y L.,
could find out what to feed him. [
| asked some of my neighbors, but they
spoke jeeringly and sarcastically. l
know now how it was. All their cut
worms had frozen down last winter
and they couldn't bear TO see me get
ahead.
All at once an idea struck me. |
haven't recovered from the conclusion
vet. 1t was this: The worm had win
tered under 4 cabbage stalk; no doubt
he was fond of the beverage. L acted
upon this thought and bought him two
dozen red cabbage plants, at 80 cents Il
dozen. | had hit it the first pop. He
was passiOnately fond OF these plants,
and would eat three in one night. He
also had several matinees and sauer-
kraut lawn festivals for his friends; and
in week | bought three dozen more
cabbage plants. By this time | had
collected large group OF common
scrub cut-worm>, early Swedish cut
worms. dwarf Hubbard cut-worms, and
shortnOrn cut-worms, all doing WELL
but still, thought, little hide-bo
and bilious. They acted languid and
! hstless. AS my squash-bugs, currant-
worms, potato-bugS, etc, were all do
| ing well without care, | devoted myself
| almost exclusively TO my cut-worms.
| They were AL strong and well, but they
seemed melancholy with nothing to eat,
day after day, but cabbages.
|, therefore. bought five dozen toma-
! TO plants that were tender and large.
| These | fed to the cut-worms at the
rate of eight to ten in one night. In a
| week the cut-wOrmS had thrown Of
! that air of ennui and languor that had
! formerly noticed and were gay and
| light-hearted. | got them some more
! tomato plants, and then some more
cabbage for change. On the whole |
was as proud as any young farmer
| who has made success of anything.
! One morning l noticed that a cab
ed. The next day it was still there. |
was thuader-struck. | dug into the
ground. My cut-worms We're gone. |
! spaded up the whole patch, but there
wasn't one. Just rs / had become at
| tached to them and they had learned to
look forward each day to my coming,
when they would almost come up and
eat tomato plant out OF my hand,
! someone had robbed me of them.
was almost wild with despair and grief.
/ Suddenly something tumblcd over my
foot. 1t was mostly stomach, but it
/ had feet on each corner. A neighbor
/ said it was warty toad. He had eat
en- up my summers work. He had
swallowed my cunning little cut-worms.
| tell you, gentle reader, unless some
way is provided whereby this warty
toad scourge can be wiped out, | for
one shall relinquish the joys of agri-
/ cultural pursuits. When a common
toad. with swallow complexion and
no intellect. can swallow up my sum-
/ mer's work it is time to pause.