Norwich bulletin., 1911-04-22

and other eleyati6ns Of New Hemp
shire. ~ -
The silence was 50 marked an expert
ence to those ui1accusromed to quiet
unbrOken except by bird-call or rustic
OF some small animal out of view
never saw tlere anything more dan
gerous than stray cat from some
neighboring farm. Once found
evidence Of the porcupine for on the
ground beneath wild apple tree lay e
quantity of porcupine quilts. I gath
cred a handful and have treasured
them during all of these years. Evil
IDENTIFY Mr.. Porcupine had gone out on
a slender branch for apples and had
fallen on for some cause, and left his
quilts to travel to Connecticut in the
purse of one who had never till that
time seen anything of the sort.
Where the trees had been cut away,
the ground In open spaces was white
with lmmortelles, large and beautiful,
and many a bunch have brought home
to furnish winter bouquets and keep
the old back lot in memory Red
raspberry bushes sprang up in, pro-
fusion in other spots, where the land
had been cleared, and the luscious
RED berries were worth the climb to
obtain. Their fragrance greeted us
long before they were in sight, and
whetted our appetite for the feast in
prospect.
MY rambllngs in the old wood lot
were necessilily in summer, and at
my tast visit l dared not go, because
the deer were so carefully protected
by Vermont laws that they felt them
selves owners of the woods, and hui
man kind were unwelcome intruders
IN their domain. They, themselves,
did not hesitate to bound over the
fence and feast on the choicest APP
pies in the adjoining orchard, or on
the corn of nearby field. A doe and
her fawn make pretty sight, I adj
init, but they cause the farmer much
loss of produce and patience, neither
of which he can afford to cast away.
They had a very discriminating taste,
and knew exactly the whereabouts OF
the finest favored apples and the best
developed ears of corn.
Many another proof does the farm
life furnish of the accuracy of instinct
in the lower forms of creation. One
amusing one comes into my mind al
this moment. I once was staying al
farmhouse, which had below it a po-
tato field and above it, in a larger
plot of cultivated land, another field
Of potatoes. The beetles, though
bravely fought, had Toasted on the
lower patch, and made up their minds
if they have any, to better feed in
pastures new, and determined to mi
CRATE. And migrate they did, and in
a straight line, too. The one-story
shed of the farmhouse was between
the two fields, but bravely they went
at the enterprise, up one side, over
the roof, down the other side. They
met their Waterloo, however, and few
lived to feast on the potato vines fol
which they had planned their attack
What told them where to find more
potato vines to their liking. and how
did they choose their leaders for the
journey?
People living on these hack farms
sometimes feel themselves shut out
from the busy world, and they are sc
accustomed to their surroundings thai
they do not realize the delight of be-
ing so near to Natures heart. Remove
them from the farm to a busting
husthng city life, and they miss some
thing from their experience, they hardly
know what, and as soon as the novelty
pals, they often droop and pine from
want of the broadening, uplifting influ-
ences of their previous life.
AN IDLER.