The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-03-15
AS AN AGRICULTURIsT.
"A Man Who Has Tried 1t Tells of His Ex-
perience as a Farmer.

perience a Farmer.
Bill Nye, in the Northwestern Miller
During the past season was considerably in
terested in agriculture. / met with some sue
cess, but not enough to madden me with Joy.
liz 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
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 Tho
grain crop is loved by the weevii the Hessian
fly and the chinch bug; the watermelon,
the squash, and the cucumber are loved
by the squashbug; 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 curcuio, and so
forth, and so FORTH so that no plant that grows
need be a waAlfowe Early blooming and ex-
tremeiy dwarf joke for the table Plant as soon
as mere Is no danger of frosts, in drills four
lncnes apart. When ripe, pull it, and eat raw
with vinegar The red ants may be added to
taste.)
Well. I'began early to spade up my angle
worms and other pets to see if they had with
stood the severe winter. / found they had.
They were unusually bright and cheerful The
potato bugs little sluggish at first but as
the spring opened and the ground warmed up
they pitched right in and did frst-rate. Every
one OF my bugs IN May looked splendidly. l was
most worried about my eut-worms Away along
10 April had not seen cutworm, and began
to fear they had suffered and perhaps persisted
in the extreme cold of the previous winter
One morning late in the month, however,
saw cut-worm come out from behind a cabbage
stump and take off his ear-muF. He was little
stiff in the joints. but he had not lost hope /
saw at once now was the time &c assist him If
had spark of humanity left / searched every
work could find on agriculture to find out what
Of E0 fnA {hnt,s
but all scientists seemed to be silent | read
the agricultural reports, the dictionary, 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 was liable to lose him unless / could find
out what to feed him. / asked some of my
neighbors, but they spoke jeeringy and sarcas-
tically. 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 re-
covered from the conclusion yet. 1t was this:
The worm had wintered under a cabbage-stalk;
no doubt he was fond of the beverage. ] acted
upon this thought, and bought him two dozen
red cabbage plants, at fifty cents a dozen. L
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 a
week bought him three dozen more cabbage
plants. By this time l had collected large
group of common scrub cut-worms, early Swed-
sh cut-worms dwarf Hubbard cut-worms, and
shorthorn cut-worms all doing WELL but STILL
thought, q little hide bound and bilious. They
acted languid and listess. AS my squash bugs,
currant- worms, potato bugs, etc. were all doing
we'll without care I devoted myself almost ex-
clusvely 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 tomato plants
that were 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 of
that air of ennui aud languor that had former
got them some more tomato plants, and then
/ was as proud as any young farmer who has
made success of anything.
One morning noticed that cabbage plant
was left standing unchanged, The next day it
was still there. ! was thunder struck. / dug
into the ground. My cutworins were gone.
spaded up the whole patch, but there wasn't
one just as l had become attached to
them, and they had learned to look
forward each day TO my coming, when they
would almost come up and cat tomato plant
out of my hand, someone had robbed me Of them.
I was almost wild with despair and grief Sud
denly something tumbed over my foot It was
mostly stomach, but it had feet on each corner.
A neighbor said it was warty toad He had
eaten up my summers work. He had swal-
lowed my cunning little cut-worns. | tell you.
gentle reader unless some way is provided
whereby this warty toad scourge can DO wiped
out, for one shall relinquish the joys OF agri-
cultural pursuits. When q common toad with
swallow complexion and Ito intellect, can swal-
low up my summers work it is time to pause.