Norwich bulletin. [volume] (Norwich, Conn.) 1895-2011, 1909-07-24
A FARMERS TALK TO FARMERS
A Strenuous Week on the Farm-Ihe Havoc Created by
Wild Hefer and calf-Hurried Fence Building
Invading MISUNDERSTANDING and the Ranstorm
Which Bursts Upon the Scene When the Hay was
Down.


rigating. Yet something must be done.
We got our pals and the old sap
yoke" opened up length OF wire
fence across the road, and brought
water in pals for two hours-two or
us-from the little brook, pouring 1t
into the burrows, four buckets az
time, till we made the bottom of them
all into mud. We let this lie two
hours more to soak in what it might,
and then put out half our remaining
celery. The wet dirt was packed
about the roots, the rows all gone over
with a sprinkling pot and well water
ed in so as to settle the soil COM
pactly, then, when this had been aD-
sorbed, a thin mulch Of dry dirt was
lightly hoed over to prevent evaPora-
tion and soil-cracking. Half the rows
we, then shaded with wide boards, laid
lengthwise on blocks which kept them
from touching the plants.
Perhaps you'll imagine that back and
legs and fingers ached by this time.
Right in the midst of it came word
that the people had hired to do my
haying were coming next day. We'll,
says / to myself, Its better weather
for haying than for setting out celery,
anyway" And I rejoiced. Which
shows how big a ninny | can be- Inc
men appeared next morning. what
you think?'' asked the boss. Better
cut it all down? Don't seem no sign
O. rain" Yes" l answered, there's
only about twelve acres of it, you'll
lot in the afternoon and finish up,
easy. Saturday." So they cut it all
4all I've got had it down in fine
shape by half-past eleven, FRIDAY.
Then it clouded over They drew in
one load, and the top of that got
sprinkled from the first dash of what
proved a veritable cloudburst OF a
thunderstorm. Saturday the whole
bunch of us worked all Gay shaking
up and tedding and stirring and rak-
ing, and managed to get in just two
loads more, not very dry at that.
And there we are, with every present
prospect of another storm by or be-
fore Monday.
While we were engaged in the midst
of this "wraste" with the environment
an old friend sent me a few clippings
of farm reading which he had been
saving for me. One was bit of verse
called Back to the Farm" The first
line ran:
Back to the farm where the bob
white still is calling"
That made me sit up and take no.
tice Haven't heard a bob-white this
SEASON. ana nave UC6u LuO UuSy Will
weeds and grubs and bugs and other
more distinctively farm interests to
look up if l had heard one. Then it
went on:
Home to the farm for the deep
green Gains of summer" Gains of
summer" Ell? l should like to have
had the writer of that follow me, step
by step, last week, and task by task,
through the Gains which averaged
q ~, he ha Ia r1rhcr xx-nr
about 140 in the sun-where we were
Down in the bayfield,, where scythes
CLINT through the clover,
Lying mid the haycocks as casting
clouds pass over"
So it went on. Did you ever notice
scythe "glint through the clover?"
Most scythes see nowadays are paint
ed red and couldn't "glint" if they
wanted to, while, if the clover is worth
cutting at all. it's apt to be too thick
to permit any large amount of CLINT
ing" to ''glint" through it. Moreover.
we don't use scythes in the bayfield,
any more, but moving machines. And
how many farmers of your acquaint-
ance do their haying by Lying mid
the haycocks?"
Oh, well, why criticize in this cap
tious way? The farmer makes the
haycocks and the poet lies among them
and watches the clouds. If he had
rather lie there in the hot sun than
under the trees on the shady hill, why.
that's his privilege--if he can afford
it and can earn enough to live on by
doing it. But don't think there would
be much hay cured or many potatoes
raised if that system of farming was
commonly practiced.
How about the woodchucks and the
celery? Well, we've trapped half a
dozen young 'chucks and made dog
meat of them; the rest have removed,
either temporarily or permanently. The
| reset cabbages are all right now and
may if not again disturbed, make late
| heads. And as to the celery, that fur
| row. soaking labor did the business.
The plants never wilted after being set
and the heavy rain which came two
| days later freshened and invigorated
them so that they are now, think, be-
yond danger. The half which we left
unshaded is just as sturdy and strong
as the shaded rows. So that part Of
our precautions seems to have been
wasted energy.
| Now Pm wondering what's going to
| come my way this week and whether
I'm going to have to put in about If
| teen hours day of strenuous-some-
| times almost frantic-labor.
4 rLJE-