Press enter after choosing selection

Nye On Farming

Nye On Farming image
Parent Issue
Day
20
Month
April
Year
1888
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Bill Nyo in New York World. The sec etarv of the Ashfield Farmers' club of Ashfield, Mass., Mr. E. D. Church, informs me by Un;ted States mail that upon reeeipt of my favorable reply I will becomo an honorary member of that club, along with George VVilliam Curtís, Prof. TSTorton, Prof. Stanley Hall of Harvard, and other wet-browed toilers in tho catnipinfested domain pf agriculture. I t;iko this method of thankins; the Ashíield farmers' club, thvongh its secsetary, for thc honor thus all so unwoithily bestowed, and joyfully accept the honorary mombership, with the understanding. however, that during the Oonnty fair tho gólem'd dúty of delivering the innual addiessfrom the ludiros' stand, in tonos that will not only ring down along the corridors of time, but go thundering threo times around a half-milc track and bc heard above the rythmic plunk of the hired man who is trying to scertain, by means of a large mawl and a thumping machine, how hard he can striko, shall fall upon Mr. Curtis or other honorary members of the club. I have a voice that does very well to express endoarment, or other subdued emotions. but it is notefVrctive at a county fair. Spectators seo the wonderful play of my features, but they only hear the low rcfrain of the Clydesdate steed, who has a neighsal voice and wears h:s tail in a Grecian coi) 1 received f150 once for addressing a race track eme milc in length on "íhe Use and Abuso of Ensilado as a Narcotic." I m:de the gestures, but the sentiments were those of the fourton Perchón charger, Little Medicine dam Eloquent. I spoke under a low shed and rather adverse circumstances. In talking with the committee afterwards, aslwrapped up ruy gcstures andputthetn back in the shawl strap, I said thal I feit alm os t asbamed toreceivo sucli a price for the sentiments of othors, but they said it was all 'right. No one expected to hear an Agricultural AddraMu They ' ed tbat it was most gene rally purelj spectacular and so they f arded m y speech as a great success. Iused the sarao gestures aftenvards in spcaking of "The (roat Falling OIÏ 'Aruong liare-Back Riders in the Circuses of the Present Day. I would also like to bo excnsed from any duties as a judge of ourly-faced stock or as umpire of ornamental needlo Iwork. After a person has had a fountiain pen kicked endwiso through his 'chest by the animal to whieh lie has awardedthe prize, and after one has his features worked up into a giblet pio by the owner of the animal to whorn he did not award the prize, he does not ask for public recognition at the hands of his fellow-citizens. It is the same in the matter of ornamental needlework and gaudy quilts, which goad aman to drink and death. While I am proud to belong to a farmers' club and "chango works" with a he:irty, whole-souled ploujhman like CieorgoWilliam C'urtis, i hope thatat all couniy fairs or other intellectual handto-hand contests between ontdoor orators and other domestic animáis I may bo excused, and that when judges of inllamed slumber robes and restless tidies, which roll up and fall over the floor or adhere to tho backs of innocent people; or stil), hard Doric pillowshams which do not In any way enhance tho .oys of slee ; or beautiful, pale-blue satin pinuushions, which it would be wicked to put a pin in and which will therefore ever and forevermore mock the man who really wants a pin, just as a beaiitiful match-safe stands idly through the long vigils of tho night, year after year, only to laugh at the man who staggrrs towards itandfalls up against it and finds it empty; or like the glorious inkstund which is so pretty and so fragüe tliat it stands around with its bands in its pockets acquiring dust and dead llies for centuries, so that when you are in a hurry you stick jour pun into a small chamber of horrors- I say when the judges are selected for this department I would i ather have my name omitted from the panel, as I hare formed. or expressedan opinión and hare reasonable doubts and conseentious scruples which it would requlre testimony to remove, and 1 am not qQalitied anywav, and I have been already placed in jeopardv once, and thit is enough. Mr. Uhurch writes that the club has taken up, discussed and settled all points of importanee bearirig upon agricultura, from the tariif up to tlio (jiiestion of whether or not turpcntine poured in a cow s ear aniel orates 'the pangs of hollow horn. He desircs s 'rgestions and qucstions for disonssion. Tliat shows the club to lie t ho ron : h ly alive It willsoon be sprinjr, and wc cannot then discuss these ters. Kew' respons! bilitiee will be added day bv day in the way of stock, nnd wo wÜltave to tbiiik of namcs fr thom. Would it not b : we 1 bofore the time comes for active farm word to think out a long list of ñames before the littlo strangera arrive? Xothing serves to lower us in the estimation of our fellow-fariiers or the world more than the frequent altercations between owners and tlieir hin d help over what name they shall give to a weary, wobly calí who has ust enteml the great arena of life, fnll of hopes and aspira tions perhaps, but otherwise absolately enipty. 1 et us considev fchis Ijefore spring fairly opens, so that we may bc irepured for anytliing o this kind. One morí' ]ioint may properly come )efore the club at i is ncxt meeting, and I menton it here booause i may be so '%usy at Washington looking after our ■ther inten -ts that 1 can not get to the lab ineetin . I retor to the evident 'hunne in climate hen; f rom year to ■car. and its effect upon seeds purehased of ilorists a. i geedsmen geaerally. Twenty years :ir vou could plant a seed according to directiona and it would produce a plant wbich scemcd to resemble in a general way the picture or. the outsidc of tho package. Now, under the fluetuating inlluences of irresponsible isotherrus. phlegraatic springs, rare done June wea'hcr and overdone Westhei n August, I Bnd il almost impossible to produce a plañí or vegetable wbish in anj way resem bles its portrait. Is it my fault or the fault of tlie clinia'e1 I wish the club would take hold of this at its next j olar meeting. I first noticed the ehange in the sum j mer of '72, 1 think. 1 purchased a small package of early Scotch plaid curled kale with a beautiful picture on i the outside. It was as good a picture ' of Scotch kale as I ever saw. I could imagine how gay and lijrhthearted it I was the day before it went up to the B udio and had its p:eture taken for tliis purpose. A short editorial paragraph under the picturo stated that 1 should ; plant it in quick, rich soil, in rows four inches apart, to a dcpth of one inch, cover liglitly and then roll. 1 did so. N'o farmer of my years enjoys rolling any better than 1 do. In a few weeks the kale came up but turned out to be a canard, I then waited two weeks moro and otlier forrns of vegetation made their appearance. j None of them were kale. A stnall ' delegalion of bugs wbioh deal mostly with kale came into the garden one . tlay, looked at the picture on the J i carded paper, then examincd what had crawled out through the ground and went away. I began to fear then that j clirnaticintluencps had been at work on the sceds, but I had not fully given up all hope. At iirst the plants seemed to waver and hesitatc over whether they had better bo wild parsnips or Lima beans. Then I concludcd that they had de ided to be foli:ige plants or rkcubarb. Hut they did not try to live no to their portraits. Pretty soon I d'scovered tliat they had no bugs wh'ch seemed to go with them, and then I knew they were weeds. ïhings that are good to eafc always have bugs and worms on them, while tansa and eastor oil go through lito unmolestcd. I ordered a new stylc of gladiole eight years ago of a man who had lus portrait in the bow of his seed catalogue If he sueceeds no better in resembling his portrait than hi' gladioles did in resembling their-!, he muit be a human onion whose presence may easily be detected at a great distance. Last year 1 plantod the seeds of a watermelon which 1 bought of a Xew York seedsman who writes war artieles winters and sells garden seeds in the spi-ing. The portrait of this watermelon would tempt most any man to climb a nine-rail fence in the dead of night and forget all clse in order to drown his better nature and his nose in its cool bosom. Peoplc eome for miles to look at the picture of this melon and went awáy with a pleasant taste in their mouths. The plants were a little sluggish, though I phinted in hills far apart each way in a rich, warm loam, enriched by everything that could make a sincere watermelon get up and hump itself. The tnelons were to be very large indeed, with a center like a rose. According to the picture, these meions generally grew so large and plenty that most everybody had to put side boards on the garden fence to keep them from falling over intoother farms and annoying peoplc who had all the meions they needcd. I fouht squash bugs, cut worms, Hessian tl:es ohinch bugs, curculio, mange, pip, drought, dropsy, caterpillar3 and contumely till the latter part of August, when a friend from India carne to visit me. I deeided to cut a watermelon in honor of his arrival. When tho proper moment had arrived and the dnner had progressed to the point of fruit, the tropical depths of niy garden gave up the!r ?ea?on's weal'th in the shape of a low-browed citrón about as large and succulent as a hot ball. I havo had other similar experiences, and I think we ought to do something aboiit it if we can. I have plantod the scod of the morning glory and the moon Jlower, and dreamed at night that my home looked a üorist's advertisement, but when leafy June carne a bunch ol Norwuv oats and a liill of eorn were trying to climb the strings nailed up for the usc of my non-resident vines. I have plantad wlth 8ODg and laughter the sceds of the ostonsible pausy and carnation, only in tears to rcap the baehtlor's button and the glistening foliage of the sorghum plant. 1 have plantod in faith and a deep, warm soil, with plcasing hope in my heart and a dark-red picture on the outside of the package only to harvest the low, vulgar jimson weed and the night-blooming buil thistlc. Does the mean temperatura or the average rainfall have an)thing todo with it? If statistics are working theso changos they ought to be stopped. For my own part, nowever, l ara led to believo that our seedsnien put so much money into their catalogues that they do not havo anytliing luft to iso in the purchase of souds. Good religión and very fair cookies may bo produced without tlie aid of caraway secd, but you cannolgalhor niio, fresh train ñffs of thistles or expect much of a soedsraan whose planta ma re no effort what ever to resemble their pictures.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Democrat