The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-06-07
BILL NYE AS A FARMER.
His Experience Not Altogether a Sue
cess.
V0gGrieS Of The Carolina Well Digger
Williams Literary La6Ors
InterfeTed With by
Farm Worries.
copyright, 1892, by Edger ". Nye.l


copyright, 1892, by Edger w. Nye.l
BUCK SHOALS, N. &.
Recently / have been digging a well
on my estate and the sound Of the
premature blast and the vail of the
widow can be heard all over the place
on a still day. The word "well "
comes from the Anglo Saxon wellan,
to gush out. It originally meant to
flow, Or a naturally flowing spring like
the German word drummer. I have
one living spring on my place, and one
that has passed to a better land, [
judge. Some savants who remained
sweetened their coffee in a reckless
way, I thought, said that there was
sulphur in this spring,
Possibly that is it. One of the
savants ven went 70 far as to say
that it was living water. Possibly it
is in a trance.
Last week my we'll diggers al out
of explosives, and I had to go out
among the neighbors to get dynamite
and powder for blasting. Well digg
ing in North Carolina is still in it in
fancy and needs a good deal of en-
couragement and capital. Ny well
diggers furnish nothing except their
clothes. They clothe themselves while
digging the well. I do the rest.
| had to borrow dynamite and carry
it to the works in my lap. I also had
to get eighteen feet of hose, as the well
digger said he had only a few left.
Hose, as we'll as molasses and license,
is used in the plural number here.
Wespeak of those hose, those molasses,
and those license.
This is the first we'll [ ever dug.
You get a mind-reader or water witch
first before digging we'll. He divines
by means of a hazel crotch the location
of the vein. Then you secure a we'll
digger, who does the actual digging at
so much per foot and found.
One man who dug a we'll here years
ago on my farm at three dollars per
| 1OOO CIlu 1OOIIu SOU 0O"A ClS1Uy LOU
and then the well caved in on him.
His widow has since sued the owner of
the place ON tie ground that her hus-
band did his part of the contract faith
fully but was not found according to
agreement. 1t involves a very fine
legal point, indeed.
In selecting a site for a house I find
that I have placed it so high that the
we'll is going to be unusually massive.
In order to have the house where it
would easily command a view of Mr..
Vanderbilt's tennis court, thus giving
us the benefit of the game without the
fatigue Of playing it, I have placed my
we'll at such an elevation that water
will be my most expensive drink this
summer.
Ny valet, whose duty it is to carry
the water, press my trousers and do
the chamber work at the barn? took
one look down the well yesterday and
handed in his resignation. The well
was opened in March and the corner
stone laid with suitable ceremonies
and a speech made by Mr.. Depew, but
the work seems to drag some, owing
to the fact that the tar heel well digger
does not own a set of tools, neither
does he furnish powder, caps nor hose.
Just as | would seat myself in the
library and proceed to work on my
great posthumous job, to be called
THE Great Detective Series, or the
Tedious Task of Inspector Byrnes in
Unearthing and Bringing to Justice
the man who struck Billy Patterson"
my farming superintendent would rush
in and, making a low salaam instead
of wiping his feet, state that the well
sinker was out of powder.
I would then dismiss the farming
superintendent, telling him to return
to to his duties. l call him my farm
ing superintendent because it. has a
more prosperous air to it. AS a mat
ter of fact he and his horse Ly dia E.
Pinkham constitute the farm force
and entire genealogical staff. He is a
good staff, he and Lydia.
Together they are farming eleven
acres of Venetian red soil this year,
and putting a moulding on the lower
edge to keep the potatoes from falling
out of the ground and injuring Mr..
Vanderbilt's cotton crop and pajama
plants, which are growing on the
farms just below us.
Next year we will clear three more
acres of white oak, leaving the stumps
finished off artistically with a large
carved acorn or some such design, so
that the field will not be so unsightly,