Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-08-24
from the pool and sending Antony

and Cleopatra scurrying. Antony and
| Cleopatra were the goldfish which the
! Eekstroms, true TO their promise, had
sent US. The poor things were I'M
named when they arrived, but their
aspect-the one dark and sinuous, the
| other pompously golden - betrayed
! their identity. Stella called a few days
! after their arrival to convey our thanks
| carefully waiting till she saw the
Eckstroms driving out in their car!
Their curiosity having been satisfied
regarding US, and our thanks having
| been rendered to them, further inter
course lapsed. We have never tried
! to maintain relations with those of our
neighbors who bore US, or with whom
we have nothing in common. Life is
too short. Not only did Stella water
| the seedlings religiously, but she kept
the soil mulched and the weeds out,
working with her gloved hands in the
earth. All the seeds came up we'll
save the phlox, with which we had
small luck, and the Papayer Orientalis,
with which we had no luck at all. Not
a seed came up, and not seed ever
has come up in our soil. We have had
to beg plants from other people. Even
as the gardener predicted, the tender
| little larkspur plants mysteriously
died. We ringed them with stiff paper,
we surrounded them with coal
sShes, we even sprayed them with
bordeaux and arsenate of lead.
But they still were devoured at
the roots Or the tops, or mys-
| teriously gave up the ghost with
no apparent cause We started with
two hundred, and when autumn came
we had just thirty left.
"SHll," said Stella, cheerfully, "thir.
ty will make quite a brave show"
eff they survive the winter" said I,
gloomily. give not the patience to be
a gardener"
''It is a good deal like REFORM" Stella
replied.
AS the busy autumn days came upon
US, Twin Fires took on a new aspect,
and one to US greenhorns indescribably
thrilling. In the first place, our field
of corn rustled perpetually as we
walked past it, and down in the green
ish-gOlden lanes beneath we could see
the orange CLEAN Of pumpkins q shall
so spell the word lest it be mispro-
nounced by the ignorant). Great ears
Of the StoweIl's evergreen We're ripe,
for Mixes prediction about the early
| frost had not come true, and we ate
the succulent food clean to the cob ev-
cry day at dinner, besides selling many
dozens of ears to the market. In the
long light Of afternoon, Stella loved to
go along the path by the bayfield, wall
! and then turn in amid the corn, losing
sight at once Of all the universe and
wandering in a new world of rustling
| leaves She felt, she said just as Alice
must have felt after she had eaten the
| cake; and once rabbit bounded
across her foot, to her unspeakable de-
light She looked to see if he had
dropped his gloves!
Then there was the potato field. We
were eating our own new potatoes
now. Often Stella dug them.
SIT seems so funny to go and dig up
a potato" she declared. give always
felt that potatoes just were But to
see the whole process of growth is
| quite another matter. Oh, John, it
| makes them SO much nicer!'
Especially when you are getting
seventy-fve cents bushel for them"
I laughed.
The loaded tomato vines. too. with
the red fruit hanging out from the wire
frames and sending a pungent odor
into the surrounding air, appealed to
| Stella endlessly. l used TO see her now
and then, as I glanced from the south
| room of morning, eating raw to-
mato like an apple, her head bent for
ward so that the juice would not spoil
her dress.
And there were the apples! Already
a red astrachan tree invited us on
every trip to the brook, and other old
| trees were bearing fast-reddening
fruit. I had wanted to set out more
orchard, but we agreed that we could
not afford 1t that year, If we were to
| build chicken houses against the
spring, so | reluctantly gave up the
idea. But our old trees, in spite of
| Tor perhaps because of my spring
pruning, were doing fairly well. We
had enough for baked apples and
cream all winter, anyhow, Stella reck-
oned smacking her lips at the thought.
Every day, on our way to the pool,
one or the other of us took hoe along
and scraped tree for five minutes,
gradually getting the old bark off, and
making final preparation for thor
ough spraying the next winter just so
much easier. l used to prl1ne bit, too,
in spare moments, so that by the end
Of the summer considerable renovation
had been accomplished.
And now came the foxgiove trans
planting. According to the gardeners
directions, we took two long rows
where the early peas had stood land
where Mike had disobeyed my instruc-
lions to spade the vines under, that
| being a form of green manuring your
old-time gardener will not see the
value Of, l have discovered), trenched
them, put In manure and soil, and set
out at least three hundred foxglove
plants six inches apart. It was cool,
cloudy day, and they stood up as
though nothing had happened. Then,
as an experiment, we moved scores OF
! tiny hOllyhocks from the crowded seed