Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1901-06-21

| low leaf had oyertaken it In fits
prime. 1t had q discouraged appear
ance, and so had everything else
about Walnut Dell farm. But this
was owing, Mr.. Perkins informed his
wife, to the fact that, since the owner
died two years ago, the place had
been rented; and it was weu-known
truth that nobody ever took much in
terest in place which was hired.
well soon slick it up and make
things boom!" said Perkins, rubbing
his hands. you'll have a :f1owe--
garden on the lawn, Anna, and
shall raise peas and cucumbers AMI
celery, andy George! we'll send
some in to Browni Brown has
laughed at the idea of my turning
farmer, and / shall make him laugh
on the other side of his FACET
It was early in April when Mr.. Per-
kins took possession of his estate,
| things in trim.
He bought horse and hired an
Irishman, and the two set about
ploughing the ground for the early
| vegetables. But the horse did not be-
lieve in early vegetables. He pre-
| ferred to stand still and chew his bit
| and stamp his forefeet viciously and
let the plow rest in the furrow- Per-
kins eXerted his powers of persua-
sion, but all in vain. The horse only
] planted his feet more firmly and de-
clined to move on. Then Perkins
tried the whip. The Irishman tried
profanity. The animal was proof
against both. Perkins took him by
! the bit and offered to help him by
| pulling with all his might at his head.
The horse declined the offer with
] thanks.
The sun was hot, mosquitoes were
plentiful and attended strictly to
business. The neighbors gathered to
| see the circus, and brought their dogs
| with them. All of them-except the
dogs-gave some advice. A good deal
| of it was tried and proved Intellectual.
At last Perkins got mad and INDUCED
| in some forcible remarks. Mrs. Per-
| kins, with the baby in her arms, APP
| peared on the scene, and asked Per
lzins what he thought of himself for
giving way so, and she asked him
where he expected to go when he
died, both of which conundrums
| only made him the madden.
| prick his hind leg with penknife,' -
said an old teamster, who was pass
| ing by with load of fence-rails, and
climbed over the fence to see what
was going on. "Never knowed that
| to fail to start EN-"
| And Perkins pricked the hind leg.
as directed. The effect was electrical.
The horse elevated his heels, gave a
snort, and plunged off down the field
and Perkins went up in the air as if
shot from a pop-gun, and came down
in a ditch rod off. and was hauled
ont by the crowd, half suffocated with
the muddy water. The horse kept
| right on till he came to stone wall,
where he left the pillow and struck a
Decline for the barn of his former
owner, where he brought up all right
in due time, sweaty, but triumphant.
Perkins gave his original propr;-
| etor $40 to take him back, and hired
his blowing done. He considered it
cheaper.
He bought some books on farming.
and worked by their instructions. He
did not take any stock in the advice
of the old hayseedy fellows who lived
around in that vicinity; he believed
| in science.
He planted his early beans and peas
and corn, and every day he went to
see if they were coming up. At last
he was rewarded by seeing the first
green shoots of the peas, and the mex.
day the ground began to crack open
and rise up, and 10, the beans ap-
peared!
But what was Perkins consterna-
| ton to perceive that the beans them
selves-the beans he had planted
had come right out of the ground on
top of the shoots!
He told his wife about it. with grea:
distress of mind.
''It must be that I put too much
phosphate in the hill, and it has
blown them right out of the earth
Now, those beans should have stayed
in the ground for the plants to have
rooted in and got their nourishment
from. That's the natural way oi
things. And all I can do is to set 'er1
out right side down; but it'll be n
tormented hard iob!"
iii help you," said the dutifnl
wife. We'll take it early in the
morning, while it is cool, and before
anybody gets around. I wouldn't lie;
Patrick know anything about it, if ]
were you, for it might make him
have less respect for you. He would
think that you did not know how to
plant things
So, in the early morning, Mr. Per
kins and his wife went out into the
field and began transplanting the
beans and sticking the bean end down
into the ground.
Of course, one can never do any
thing privately if one tries, and old
Farmer Jones crf across lots from,