Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1916-08-03
lighting every muscle, Of my arms.

lighting every muscle Of my arms.
There" said l, triumphantly, you
pillow all the rest as deep as thatw
"Begobs, ye'z all rightr' cried Mike.
| went back again down the slope
with all the joy Of small boy and
descended upon the orchard. l had a
couple Of bulletins on pruning in my
pocket, with pictures of old trees re-
morselessly headed down. l took q
fresh look at the pictures, reread some
Of the text where l had marked 1t,
and tackled the first tree, carefully re-
peating to myself: Remove only
third the first year, remove only q
third the first year"
This, I decided, quite naturally did
not refer to dead wood. By the time
l had the dead wood cut out of that
first old tree, and all the water sprouts
removed (as I recalled my grandfather
used to call them, which didn't seem
necessary for new bearing wood, the
poor thing began to look naked. On.
one side an old water spout or sucker
had achieved the dignity of a limb
and shot far into the air. l was up
in the tree carefully heading this back
and out when Bert came driving by
with his wagon heaped to overlooking.
'Hi" he called, yer tryin' to kill
them trees entirep'
/ got down and came out to the road.
you're a fine man and a true friend,
Mr.. Temple" said l, but I'm going
to be the doctor for this orchard. A
chaps got to have some say for him
self. you know"
well, they amt much good, any
how, them trees" said Bert cheer
fully.
We now fell to unloading the wagon.
We opened up the woodsheds and
storehOuse behind the kitchen, slowed
in the barrels of seed potatoes, the fer
tilizers, the various other seeds, the
farm implements, sprayers, and so on.
The hotbed frames and sashes were
put away for future use, as it was too
late to need them now. The horse hoe
Bert had not been able to bring on
this trip. Next we got my books and
furniture into the house or shed, and,
tired, hot and dirty, we drove on up
the road for dinner. AS we passed the
upper field, I saw that the blowing
was nearly done. The brown burrows
had already lost their gloss, as my
hands had already lost their whiteness.
"Well, I'm a farmer noww said I,
surveying my soil-caked boots and
grtmy clothes.
"Yer on the way, anyhow" said
Bert. But yer'n have ter cultivate.
thet field hard, seems how it oughter'
hev been piowed last fall"
That afternoon I went back to my
orchard, got out my shiny and sharp
new doubled-edged pruning saw, and
sawed till both arms ached.
AS 1 worked, I thought how this
orchard must be trimmed and cleaned
up first, but how the fine planting
to be getting my garden seeds in, If !,
was to have any flowers. I thought, /
also, of all my manuscripts to be read
A nervous fit seized me, and l worked.
frantically.
That night managed to keep awake
till eleven, and got some work done.
l also rose at compromise hour Of
six In the morning, and worked another
hour, almost catching up with what
should have been MY daily stint. But
realized that hereafter l could not.
work on the farm all day. I must give:
70
reading
"Well," thought I, 'T'll do it-as
soon as the orchard is finished"
AS soon as the orchard was f1nishedI
I stood amid the litter I had made on
the ground, and reflected. / had COM
pleted the preliminary trimming Of
one row and part of a second. There
were still over two rows and half to
do. And the worst trees were in those
rows, at that. After they were
trimmed, there was all the litter to
clear out, and the stubs to be painted,
and cement work to be done.
"Good gracious" thought l, ''if I do
all that, when will l plant, when will
l make my lawnY
Were you ever lost In the woods. 30
that you suddenly felt a mad desire to
rush blindly in every direction, help
less, bewildered, with horrid sensa-
ton that your heart has gone down
somewhere into your abdomen? That
is the way l suddenly felt toward nv
farm. | couldn't afford to employ
more labor. Besides, l didn't want to.
| wanted to do the work myself. But
there was So much to do!
Have you ever watched small boy
picking berries? He never picks a
bush clean, but rushes after this or
that big cluster of fruit which strikes
the eye, covering half an acre Of
ground while you, perhaps, are strip
ping a single clump of bushes. And
he is usually amazed when your pail
fills quicker than his Alas! fear
/ was much like that small boy dur
ing my first season on the farm, or
at any rate during the first month or
two. There was little efficiency" IN
my methods-but, oh, much delight
AS had planned to put my garden
coldframes along the south wall Of the
l decided to make my tenn
porary seedbeds there. Nike assented
to the plan as good one, and l had
him dump me a load Va manure, while