Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1885-05-07
AS AN AGRICULTURIsT.
The Gentle William Tilleth the Soil, and
Teiieth of His Strange and Exciting
Experiences


Experiences.
During the past season, writes Bill
Nye to the Northeastern Miller, | was
considerably Interested in agriculture.
met with some success, but not enough
to madden me with Joy. 1t takes
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
the 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.
Every product of the farm is furnished
by nature with something that loves it,
so that it will never be neglected The
grain crop is loved by the weevil, the
Hessian fly, and the chinch-bug; the
watermelon, the squash, and the Gu
cumber are loved by the squash-bug;
the potato is loved by the potato-bug;
the sweet-corn is loved by the ant. thou
sluggard; the tomato is loved by the
cut-worm; the plum is loved by the
curcullio, and so forth, and so forth, so
that no plant that grows need be wall
flower. early blooming and extreme
ly dwarf joke for the table. Plant as
soon as there is no danger of frosts in
drills four inches apart. When ripe,
pull 1T, and eat raw with vinegar. The
red ants may be added to taste.)
Well, began early to spade up my
angle-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 little sluggish at first, but
as the spring opened and the ground
warmed up they pitched right in and
did first-rate. Every one Of my bugs
in 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 persisted in the ex-
IRENE cold of the previous winter
One morning late in the month. how
ever, l saw cut-worm come out from
behind cabbage stump and take off
his 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 il had 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,
and l was liable to lose him unless |
could find out what to feed him.
asked some of my neighbors, but they
spoke jeeringly and sarcastically.
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
yet. 1t was this The worm had win
tered under cabbage stalk; no doubt
he was fond of the beverage. | acted
upon this thought and bought him two
dozen red cabbage plants, at 80 cents a
dozen. | had hit ii 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 a large group of common
scrub cut-worms, early Swedish cut
worms, dwarf Hubbard cut worms, and
shorthorn cut-worms, all doing well,
but still, | thought, a little hide-bound
and bilious. They acted languid and
llstless. 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 all strong and well, but they
seemed melancholy with nothing to eat,
day after day. but cabbages.
/, therefore, bought five dozen toma-
to plants that We're tender and large
These | fed to the cut-worms at the
rate OF eight to ten in one night. In
week the cut-worms had thrown off
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 a success of ANYTHING.
One morning noticed that cab
bage plant was left standing unchang-
ed. The next day it was still there. /
was thunder-struck. | dug into the
ground. My cut-worms were gone. |
spaded up the whole patch, but there
wasn't one. just as / 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 tumbled 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, l for
one shall relinquish the joys of agri-
cultural pursuits. When common
toad, with swallow complexion and
no intellect, can swallow up my sum-
mer's work it is time to pause.