Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1888-03-31
slLL Nys as A FARMER.
He Relates Some of His Experiences q
TIller OF the Soil.

an honorary member of that club along witt
George William Curtis, Professor Norton
Professor Stanley Hall, of Harvard, an,
other wet browed toilers in the catnip in
Tested domain of agriculture
l take this method of thanking the Ash
field Farmers club, through its secretary, fol-
the honor thus all so uuworthily bestowed
and joyfully accept the honorary member
ship, with the understanding, however, thai
during the county fair the solemn duty oi
delivering the annual address from til,
judges stand, IN tones that will not only ring
along down the corridors of time, but &c
laundering three times around a half mile
track and be heard above the rhythmic
plunk OF the hired man who is trying TO as
certain, by means of large mali and a
humping machine, how hard he can strike
shall fall upon Mr.. Curtis or other honorary
members of the club | have "a voice that
does very well TO express endearment OF
other subdued emotions, but it is not effective
at a county fair. Spectators see the wonder.
ful play of my features, but they only hear
the low refrain of the naughty Clydesdale
steed, who has a neighsal voice and wears
his tail in a Grecian coil l received $50
once for addressing a race track one mile in
length on 'The Use and Abuse of Ensilage as
Narcotic" l made the gestures, but the
sentiments were those of the four ton Per-
cheron charger, Little Medicine, dam Elo-
quent.
l spoke under a low shed and rather ad-
verse circumstances In talking with the
e committee afterward, as l wrapped up nv
gestures and put them back in the shawl
strap, l said that l felt almost ashamed to
receive such price for the sentiments of
Others, but they said that was all right. No
one expected TO hear an agricultural address
They claimed that it was most generally
purely spectacular, and so they regarded my
speech as q great success. used the same
gestures afterward in speaking of The Great
Falling OF Among Bare Back Riders in the
CIrcuses of the Present Day.n
Mr.. Church writes that the club has taken
up, discussed and settled all points of impor-
tance bearing upon agriculture, from the
tariff up to the question of whether or not
turpentIne poured in a cows ear ameliorates
the pangs of hollow horn. He desires sug-
gestions and questions for discussion. That
shows the club TO be thoroughly active. 1t
will soon be spring, and we cannot then dis
cuSs these matters. New responsibilities will
oS ooNSN bhl III lllt way Oh STOCK,
and we will have to think of names for them.
Would it not be well before the time comes
for active farm work to think out a long list
Of names before the little strangers arrivel
Nothing serves to lower US in the estimation
OF our fellow farmers or the world more
than the frequent alterations between own
ers and their hired help over what name they
shall give to a weary, wobbly calf who has
just entered the great arena of life, full of
hopes and aspirations perhaps, but otherwise
absolutely empty. Let us consider this be-
fore spring fairly opens, SO that we may be
prepared for anything of this kind.
One more point may properly come before
the club at its next meeting, and mention it
here because | may be so busy at Washing
ton looking after our other interests that l
cannot get to the club meeting. l refer to
the evident chnnge in climate here from year
TO year, and its effect upon seeds purchased
of florists and seedsmen generally.
Twenty years ago you could plant a seed
according to directions ana it would produce
plant which seemed to resemble in a general
way the picture on the outside of the pack
age. Now, under the fiuctuating influences
of irresponsible isotherms, phleglnatic
springs, rare June weather and overdone
weather in August, | find it almost impossi-
bic to produce plant or vegetable which in
any way resembles its portrait Is it nv
fault or the fault of the climate! 1 wish the
club would take hold of this at its next regu-
lar meeting
first noticed the change in the summer of
~, think. purchased a small package of
early Scotch plaid curled kale with beauti-
ful picture on the outside. 1t was as good a
picture of Scotch kale as ever saw could
imagine how gay and hglfthearted it was the
day it went up to the studio and had its
picture taken for this purpose. A short
editorial paragraph under the picture stated
that / should plant i'll quick, rich soil, in
rows four inches apart, to a depth of one
inch, cover lightly and then roll did So
No farmer OF my years enjoys rolling any
better than / do.
In few weeks the kale came up but turned
out to be a canard. | then waited two weeks
more and other forms of vegetation made
their appearance None of them were kale.
A small delegation of bugs which deal mostly
with kale came into the garden one day,
looked at the picture on the discarded paper,
then examined what had crawled out
through the ground and went away. l be-
gan to fear then that climatic influences had
been at work on the seeds, but had not fully
given up all hope.
AT first the plants seemed to waver and
hesitate over whether they had better be wild
parsnips or Lima beans Then concluded
that they had decided 10 be foliage plants or
rhuharb But they did not try to live up to
their portraits. Pretty soon / discovered |
that they had no bugs which seemed TO 60 |
with them, and then knew they were weeds. |
Things that are good TO eat always have |
bugs and worms on them, while tanSy and |
castor oil go through life uumolested.
have had other similar experiences, and |
think we ought to do something about it if
we can. l have planted the seed OF the
morning glory and the moon flower and
dreamed at night that my home looked like |
q florists advertisement, but when leafy |
June came a bunch of Norway oats and q |
hill of corn were trying TO climb the strings |
nailed up for the use of my nonresident |
vines. have planted, with song and laugh |
ter, the seeds of the ostensible pansy and car |
nation, only in tears to reap the bachelors |
button and the glistening foliage of the |
sorghum plant. | have planted in faith and |
n deep, warm soil, with pleasing hope in ny |
heart and dark red picture on the outside |
of the package, only 10 harvest the low, vu'- |
gar jimson weed and the night blooming |
bull thistle
Does the mean temperature or the average |
rainfall have anything to do with itl If Sta |
tistics are working these changes they ougbE |
70 be stopped. For my own part, however, |
am led to believe that our seedsnen put 50 |
much money into their catalogues that they |
do not have anything left TO use in the pur- |
chase Of seeds. Good religion and very fair |
cookies may be produced without the aid of |
caraway seed, but you cannot gather nice. !
fresh train figs Of thistles or expect much OF
a scotsman whose plants make no effort what |
ever to resemble their pictures