The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1909-07-23

planted four acres or Deans. Every
night we'd talk an plan about what
, we would do with all that money we
. was goin' to make on them beans. We
was gOin' to send Sary to college, an
we was goin' to buy bran new bug
gy, an Maria lowed she certainly was
goin' to have the house ceiled an an
other chimbly built. Why, man, if
you'd a heard us talk you'd a thought
we was goin' to make a thousan' dol
lars Off of them beans, at least.
well, sir, had beans up before any
of the neighbOrs, an l had the pretti-
est stan you ever saw. They was
just putin on the first two leaves an
looked fine, tell one mornin' l got up
an went out to look at 'em, an, 10 an
behol! about ten or twelve rows, plum
across the patch, wasn't nothin' but
little stems ,standin' up like rows of
little green pegs, but the rest was all
CROWN fine. Right down between
them lows was so many rabbit tracks
it looked like every rabbit in the
county had come to political conven-
ton right there in my bean patch. But
even then l didn't suspicion what had
become of all them bean leaves. Of
course, l knew rabbits would eat cab
bages, but 1 hadn't heard they was
fond of beans.
Next mornin' there was five or six
more rows of little pegs where my
beans had been, an 1 was still puz-
zlin' my head over them beans, an
wonderin' what had happened to 'em,
when Jim Smith come ridin' down the
road an'called me out to the fence. So
told him about it, an he says:
why, it's rabbits, man. Didn't
you know you couldn't raise no beans
out here, less you put a wall round
EN-, or chicken-wire fence? Them
burned rabbits won't leave a bean in
the patch.
"Oh!" says I, kinder mournful.
Won't they come out again? Won't
they put on new leaves if can per-
suade them rabbits to leave 'em
alone?"
No. says he, when they eats off
them two first leaves they never
amounts to nothin,. an you might as
well pillow 'em up
You can bet l was hot. The first
thing that come to my mind was to
pizen 'em, so 1 lit out for the store.
1t was Sunday, but l found Dock at
home, an 1 told him | had murder in
my heart an was lookln' for pizen. II
told him to open up the store and give
me about ten pounds of Paris green;
that the rabbits was eatin' up all my
beans, an l was goin' to put it all over
| EN-, for l thought that would get 'em
sure. But Dock, he said anything L
put on my beans strong enough to
kill the rabbits would kill the beans,
too. So, finally, l had to compromise
by taking pound of white tasteless
arsenic. knew how they loved sweet
potatoes, an lowed a few good slic-
ed potatoes, nicely coated with the ar
senic, would do the work, an Dock
said he thought so, too.
When passed Browns house on
my way back home, l stopped an told
him about it, an asked him if they
was eatin' of his any, for he had about
six acres.
Z" No., he said, they amt botherin'
me none yet, an my boys is ketchin' |
EN- in traps baited with sweet pota-
toes. think you'll get EN- with that
arsenic; but be keerful with it. Pizen
is bad thing TO fool with
When l got home Maria cut up a |
lot of potatoes in nice slices. an put /
a good coatin' of arsenic all over 'em,
an that evenin' l strowed EN- all
round that patch of beans. When
went to bed that night lowed to my
self that | had Mr.. Rabbit fixed: but
next mOrnin' l couldn't find nary a
dead rabbit nor nary piece of potato
even nibbled at. Them wise old rab-
bits had took a sudden spite against
potatoes, an a few more rows of pegs
without any leaves on 'em stood
where the beans was the day before.
So / concluded the rabbits knew the
potatoes was pizened. an / made me
a lot of dead-falls an baited 'em up
nice without no pizen on the bait
Newt mornin' all my dead-falls was
still standin', but | found one Cead
rabbit way off by the fence, an some
more rows of naked bean stalks in
my patch. / always have thought that
rabbit found had just got 'shamed
of hisself an committed suicide.
That day fellow come by my bean
patch an lowed:
All you got to do is to git bout
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