Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1888-02-24
Planting I'm The Moon"


and SOW 'in the moon" to insure rapid
growth. but In Dakota it is dangerous
TO plant in the polite phase Of the
moon, SO they are careful to plant at
such IA time hat the moon will exert
lis influence in holding the crop back.
| have known several disasters to result
from neglec of this precaution. One
day last January | got lost out in the
country. and while l was toiling
through the tall. new grass | saw a
man with nothing on but his suspend
ers tearing along like mad. He stop
ped just long enough to tell me what
was up, and off he went again for the
Iowa de Of the Sioux river. which he
cleared at a bound, and fell on all four
Into a sn%ow-drlft -four feet deep. He
said he and his wife had looked up the
moon business, and had planted their
garden the evening before. but hap
pened to get hold Of last years alma
nae. and missed it about four days.
The result was when he woke up that
morning the beets that he planted
forty feet from the house had crushed
in h s cellar walls. and a squash. vine
had taken the doOr off it's hinges. and
WAS Just mopping the floor with all
there was left OF his hired man. whom
II had snatched out of bed in the attic.
lie didn't know where his wife was.
but he saw some shreds OF "a night
gown and several agate buttons in the
front yard as he fled. He said there
were pea-vines after him. with pods
on 'em large enough for phantom
boats; and one could see by the way he
was dressed that il he was a liar at all
he was not a regular Dakota thorough
bred sample. IL l really thought l
would ever become an average Dakota
liar | would want To die. This territory
must be divided sometime before the
day of Judgment for how could the
Almighty ever audit its accounts with
only one set Of clerical angels at work
at a timep
About two weeks ago | saw a farmer
out behind a straw-stack gathering in
TO a heap a lot Of old bones and pieces
of hides and sprinkling salt on them.
Yesterday | SAW this same man selling
"A fine par OF steers to a butcher up
town. They were so fat and had filled
MP so fast that he had p eced out their
hides with An old buffalo robe. This
granger was a Sunday-school superin-
tendent before he came to Dakota, but
he swore that these were the same
cattle | had seen him kicking together
behind the straw-stack. He SAID all
hat thev had eaten was some wild
grass that had sprung up in his door
yard where the women had thrown
out a few tubs of warm soap-suds on
wash days. He said that he had
learned that the BEST way to winter
stock in Dakota was to knock them all
to pieces in the fall and set them up
again as wanted. otherwise, unless we
get n bl zzard every week. they are
liable 10 get too fat and round on the
nat We grass.
Last fall | stopped at a house to
borrow a match to light my pipe. The
man told me to go right out in the
garden and pick all | wanted. | did
not know what he meant at first, but
he went N with me, and-Tm almost
afraid you'll think I'm n liar for tell
ing lt-there was about half an acre
growing the finest parlor matches |
ever saw. They were as thick as hairs
on a blind mole. He said he had a
poor crop the year before. because the
seed was too good for such sol. This
year he had mixed his seed matches
with about one-fourth toothpicks. and
got a splendid WELD.
| went out after breakfast and saw
the man blowing up hubbard squashes
with gunpowder. They were too large
to he moved. and the farmer wanted
the ground. | noticed that one OF his
wife's legs was about eight inches Ion
ger than the other, aud the man ex-
planned it thus: He said when they
first came to Dakota they lived in a
''dug-out." with nothing but the ground
for IA floor, upon which they had to
NOW the grass onc a day to find the
baby. He said his wife had a habit of
sitting with one leg over the other knee.
and the leg that remained in contact
with the soil got such a start that the
other could never catch up.
One day | was very thirsty. | asked
n man ii the water in that neighbour
hood was good. He said: You see
that mule standing over there?" / re-
plying in the affirmative, he said:
why, three months ago that mule was
a jack-rabblt. | should say the water
was good
He must also have taken a copious
supply OF the alkali grass. which grows
in this country in abundance. -Dakotd
Cor. Modern Miller.