Mower County transcript., 1904-07-27
FARMER BEN'S COLUMN.

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There's alwus some gain no matter
what the loss. Every time one set gets
defeated another set gets in. It's al
wus a good thing to hav revolutin' in
offs. No matter if the old gang is
your best friends, they will get heady
and independent after forty years OF
beiu' in. There's a whole lot of the
state push that will hav to walk the
plank with anew governor comm in
and some of 'em are awful nice. But
there will be different gang come in
and I've alwus noticed that the new
fellows are nifty careful to be humble
and accomodatin'. This offs business
ought to be passed round about once IN
so often anyhow for it's bad on the dis
position to be so dependent on Oils
that finally when You get kicked out
you feel like I'LL orphan III THIS sr@a1
wide world. The man y. Woman mat
gets sour and wOrrny sild measiy aid
demoraliZed because he gets LETT out
after bein' in a long while ought never
hav been allowed to get in Oh the start.
My theory has alwus consistently been
for rotation in offs. Ii it's a good thing
pass it round. If it's bad thing then
relieve the poor burdened offs holder
by putin some one else in. 1t works
both ways like two edged sword. L
hav no idee that the state Of Minnesota
will go to the dogs with brand new set
of appointive offs holders. My, but
what a dish of plums hundred aud
fifty OF these offices are.
We've now got the last pond hole on
the old farm drained off and I'm glad
of it. Folks CAN hav all the pond holes
and low places OH a farm that they
want to but 1 want none in mine. l
don't want creek or swamp or ponds OF
anything but the straight prairie and
I'll get along for fresh water and good
feed. I've watched some of my naybors
dodgin' round in small patches Of
plowin until it made me pretty near
cross-eyed to watch 'em. Civ me the
long lay Of plowin' and cuttin' right
across the quarter,<a good half mile,
and a, man can make somethin' OF his
time and team that way. l used to
hav a pond hole that the COWS stood in
summers and drank out of long after
it wasn't fresh and i never felt that it
was the proper caper and I've proved
that it wasn't. Now that my COWS hav
fresh water pumped by a good wind
mill fresh all the time from the bowels
of the earth, cool and sweet, they never
did so we'll and I'd rather any time rub
little fly-bane on their legs to disgust
the flies than to hav the cattle get
blackleg and lumpy jaw standin' in the
muddy holes. Now we've got the old
farm so we can plow all over it in good
shape. There amt no waste land. We
change pastur every fortnight first one
and then the other and keep rotatin'
pastur every year or two. I'll take my
chances on an all plow-land farm every
time as compared with one that is all
cut up with bogs and pond holes and
creek bottom.
Speakin' of sloughs and frog ponds,
my notion is that from my best know
ledge and belief there is more waste
wet land on the farms in this county
than there was fifteen or twenty years
ago. We used to keep bitches open to
drain off these low places and we kept
the bottom lands seeded down to grass
but in the years when it got so dry we
calkerlated that it was never goin'
to be wet agen we worked out the
bitches and leveled up the drainways
and for the past two wet seasons there
amt any outlets for the surplus water
and it just stands round to keep out
good crops and to breed weeds and
frogs. There amt any use of tryin' to