The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1885-04-30
AS AN AGRICULTURIST.
The Gentle william TiIleth the soil, anC
Telieth of His Strange and Exciting
Experiences.


The Gentle William TiIleth the soil. and
/ Telieth of His Strange ami Exciting
Experiences.
During the past season, writes Bill
Nye to the hOyfhmPStPrH Mater, | was
considerably interested in agriculture.
| met with some success, but not enough
10 madden me with joy. Ii takes Il
good deal OF success To unScrew nv
reason and make il tutIcr on lis throne.
I've had trouble with nv liver, and
various other abnormal conditions of
the vital organs. hut old reason sits ON
his or her throne, as the case may he,
through it all.
Agriculture has a charm about it
which | can not adequately describe.
Every product OF the firm is furnished
by nature with something that loves it,
50 that il will never be neglected. The
grain crop is loved by the weevil, the
Hessian iiy. and the chinch-bug; tine
watermelon, the squash, and the cu-
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 a 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 it. and eat raw with vinegar The
] red ants may be added to taste.)
Well, L began early to spade up my
angle-wor and other pets to see if
| they had withstOOd the severe winter
I / a H.. 4 IL
ly 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 tirst-rate. Every one of my bugs
! in May looked splendidly. was most
worried about my cut-worms. Away
along in April l had not seen cut
worm, and | began to fear they had
suffered and perhaps perished in the ex-
treme 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 of
! 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 if | had spark of humanity left. l
/ 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 | was liable to lose him unless
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. l
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. | acted
upon this thought and bought him two
dozen red cabbage plants, at 80 cents Il
dozen. l had hit it the first pop. He
was passionately fond of these plants,
and would cat three in one night. He
also had several matinrcs and sauer-
kraut lawn festivals for his friends; and
in a 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 cnt-worms, and
shorthorn cut-wOrms, all doing well,
but still. thought, little hidc-bOund
and bilious. They acted languid and
lIstless. As my squash-bugs, currant-
worms, pOtato-bugs, etc, were all do
ing well without Care, 1 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,
l, therefore, bought five dozen toma-
to plants that were tender and large
These 1 fed to the cut-worms at the
rate of eight to ten in one night. In Il
week the cut-wOrms had thrown oil
that air of ennui and languor that had
formerly noticed and We're gay and
light-hearted. l got them some more
tomato plants, and then some more
cabbage for change. On the whole
was rs proud Is any Young farmel
who has made i success Of anything
One morning | noticed that cab
bage plant was left standing unchang
ed. The next dav it Was still there.
was thunder-Struck. l dug into the
ground. My cut-wOrms We're gone.
spaded up the whole patch. but there
wasn't one Just as had become at,
tached to them and they had learned IL
look forward each day to. my coming,
when they would almost come up anc
eat . tomato plant out OF my hand
someone had robbed me of them.
was almost wild with despair and grief
Suddenly something tumhled over my
foot. 1t was mostly stomach, but il
had feet on each corner. y neighbOT
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 som,
way is provided whereby this warty
toad scourge can be wiped out; | fo1
one shall relinquish the joys OF agri
| cultural pursuits. When "A common
toad, with swallow complexion AZ,
no intellect, can swallow up my sum
| mer's work it is time TO pause.