Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1894-07-23
FARM LIFE IN ARKANSAS.


FARM LIFE IN ARKANSAS.
Thinking that the many readers Of
the MONITOR would like to hear from,
if not "'Way down on the Suwanee
River" from way down in Arkansas,
and "'way back" at that. Although
it has been nearly nine years since
babe the old Vermont hills farewell,
yet I can say with the poet:
CLONE, dear home, we never forget;
Friends, dear friends,we often there have met;
Pressed by care or pierced by grief,
Home has afforded us sweet relief.
Tender memories round thee Irvine,
Like the ivy green round the pine.
Over land and may roam,
Still will we cherish thee our own dear home.'
lam always glad to hear from 'the
green hills far away" and how we
live and how we are surrounded here
in Arkansas may be Of interest to
those who live in the old Green Noun
tain State.
have been nearly across the state,
each way and have, spent some time
in the southern as we'll as in the north
ern and western parts of the state. In
roaming around [ have learned few
things about the varied industries
and inhabitants of the ''Old Bear
State"
am satisfied that if Arkansas had
been settled with class of inhabit-
ants like those that settled Vermont
it would have beaten Vermont at ev-
ery-turn. But the class of inhabitants
and the CURSE af slavery have made
the reputation of Arkansas worse
than it really is. I am located about
sixty five miles north and little east
of the center of the state, in what is
called 'tthe hills'' 1t is not level like
''the bottoms" nor broken enough to
be mountains. In Vermont they
would be hills. To go up the noun
tain south of us is about like going up
one Of the many long hills of Yer
mont.
One thing that modifies farm life
here, TO some extent at least, is the
great distance from the railroad We
are % miles from the locomotive.
While they have talked about rail
road through here during all Of our
nearly six years residence, it has not
yet materialized, but they say it is
sure to come. Another modifier of
life are our neighbors. Here they are
good, being largely members of the
Baptist church. Society is as varied
as climate or farm products. You will
find at some cross roads neat church
building with organ, and if you were
present at service you would hardly
know that you were not in old YER
mont. Again you may find an old
rickety log building with everything
inside to match. If you were there
at service you would soon realize
that you were not in Vermont. Per-
haps the young lady CD near you
would be chewing tobacco like an
old man and squirting Gambler" all
around; the next one with snuff stick
dispensing 'ambier' also, and all the
rest in keeping.
Climate is another modifier Of farm
life especially. From the Mississippi
bottom about $50 it. above ocean lev
ell to the ridge of the Boston noun
tains, rise of about $500 feet, gives
a climate covering a range Of ten de-
grees of latitude in an actual distance
os less than three degrees. So you
may have a sugar plantation or nice
farm, cotton plantation, sweet po-
tato farm, strawberry ranch, a
wheat field or an orchard farm, and
mixture of nearly all of them if you
wish. If all of these classes Of farm.
ers should write about "Farm Life in
Arkansas" their experience and life
work would be as different as though
they lived in different climate and
country. My location in the hills gives
a good chance for mixed farming, and
we have all kinds except rice and
wheat raised around US.
The timber is as varied as the rest
of the things in Arkansas. It is said