Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1934-06-28
GETTING DOWN TO
THE JOYS OF FARMING
lBy JOHN

tudt ne is Uuly attempting 10 TelaI
life As many farmers might view /
in these troublesome times that tr
mems souls. and that the experience
is not to be considered as personal
We are glad to present 1t, but hop,
someone may come forth with an
other story which might well por
tray the brighter side"
Summer on the farm. Four o'cloc
in the morning. / stretch. | yawn
I hoist myself over the edge of tn,
bed | wriggle sleepily into my cloth
ing-such Is it is. | grab the mill
pails-such as they are-and trudgt
yawningiy out to the barnyard. A.
| pass the chicken house | glance
through the door. Sprawled over the
floor. under the roosts, in the feet
trough, atop the nests, lie some 2s
or 80 Of my best leghorns. | stoI
and examine them.
the chicken house and proceed to
ward the barn. l glance out over the
ields-such as they are-and observe
that my turkeys are already out for
aging for insects. Thank goodness
| say fervently. 'at least they didn't
get the turkeys. After all 1t pays
better TO raise turks than to raise
chickens. They bring a better price,
they practically feed themselves, and
they aren't as easy prey for pests
Hrnh rtran1 1nr1o- rr,t re - r~xf
ly and into the flock. Feathers be
gin to fly. | sprint back to the house
after the shotgun. III get back just
In time to see the coyote disappear
over the hill with my prize gobbler,
leaving Is cOrpses cooling among
the young blades of wheat. sigh
YEARLY and. leaning the gun against
a fence post, sit down to begin milk
ing. Ny little police pup. S~ilversheen,
uns up and cocks his ears at me,
and / stop to stroke his head. He
gives a bound or two OF delight, as
puppies will, and with the second
leap he knocks down the shotgun.
There Is a crashing report, a whiz
OF something past my ear. and my
new $500 Holstein COW falls upon
her side and struggles feebly.
At about nine O'clock a breeze
comes up from the southwest, and
by 1870 it is blowing a gale. My
fields, where the young grain has
been struggling for five weeks to get
started. now rise In a choking cloud
and moves toward Halifax. Crash.
A pane blows out OF the bedroom
window Bang. The new sash comes
OF the hotbed and goes soaring in
sp~linters. Sometime in the afternoon
the hurricane swings round into the
northwest, and by sunset the mer-
curry has dropped 81 degrees. The
following morning everything Is white
with frost. The sim rises, and every
thing becomes black. .Oh, we'll" /
say hopefully, 1.-THE grain will be all
/ go to town after some o garden
seeds.
My corn Is just coming UP, and the
long straight rows look very pretty.
marching over the hills and through
the dips between. The sight gives
me pleasure. / decide to go out and
see whether 1t is coming up evenly.
AS / trudge between the rows I 10
tice with alarm that about every
third or fourth plant looks Wilte1 ana
disconsolate. / stop and dig around
some Of them. With a shudder OF
distaste I uncover as many as half
a dozen sleek, fat. g~reenish-gray and
very repulsiye bodies curled about a
single stem. / rush back to the house
and look up my formula for cutworm
poison. That evening | spread the
poison. In two days the cutWorms
have disappeared, and / still have
nearly half as much corn as | had
In the first place.
+ spend the following week in cul-
tivating my corn and my garden.
The garden is beginning to show
green again where I repIanted 1t af-
ter the frost, but there are bare
spaces where the ground Is too dry
to allow the seed to terminate. 1t
is several weeks since the last rain.
Some little green worms, even more
repulsiye than the cutwoams, are at
lacking my onions. They spread to
the beets. the cabbages, the carrots.
/ trot out another formula, and In
two days the army worms are dead.
But the bare spaces In the garden
are bigger now.
BY the middle of July the drouth
has done its worst. We exist In a
haze OF dust and unearthly heat.
The grain, some OF 1t as much as
inches tall, Is headed out and
ripening. and the kernels in the heads
are heavier and plnmper than the
best quality OF bran. The corn an
swers the whispering OF the wind
with a brittle sound-something be
tween a scath and a rattle. The
potato patch contains potatoes all
the way up to an inch In diameter.
The bare spaces in the garden are
than ever. The dam In the
is dried up, and / drive my
cattle to water. 1t is a fOur4nile
trip to the creek and back, and my
COWS seem to be always thirsty.
There Is very little grazing left. and
the milk supply grows scantier every
hay. MY horses r merely SO many
skins stretched over frames. / take
The rubbing post out OF the hog yard
and hang a razor strup in Its place.
The hogs appreciate the d~eaicately