secretary's budget. 369 



black soil got in there an' done its work. Did you see that boy that 

 was with me on the street this morning i' Looks like he war about 18 

 years old. Wal, about six months ago my wife sot our six-months-old 

 kid down in the plowed ground to pLiy, an' gents, I'll be doggoned if — . 

 But you wouldn't believe that if I told it. Yes, it's a wonderful coun- 

 try, gents ! I could sit here a year relatin' facts, but I must go and 

 splice our ISfoot ladder so I can pick some corn for dinner." And 

 this reminds Prairie Farmer of the illustrative story told us by a man 

 returning from " out west" when it did not extend beyond the Miami" 

 Valley in Ohio : '* Why," said he, "• I was ridin' along by a clearin' out 

 there enclosed by a worm fence. I heard a great squeal in' in the corn, 

 and stopped to see what it meant. Well, I discovered that a growin' 

 pumpkin vine was chasin' a sow. What was the result? Why the 

 vine got to the fence, grew right through and across the road between 

 my horse's legs, and there was a pumpkin on it as big as a half bushel 

 before the sow got to the fence. Fertile soil out there.'* — Prairie 

 ' Parmer. 



The idea of keeping an orchard in clover after it has attained an 

 age of five or si.v years, is one that we heartily approve ; but we think 

 there is a much better way of utilizing this clover than letting it rot 

 on the ground, and that is to graze it off with hogs. If there is one 

 place on the farm where the hog is pre-eminently in his sphere, that 

 place is in the orchard. Lazy though he be, he will there most industri- 

 ously watch for and save the falling fruit, and many a worm will find his 

 career ending in the production of juicy pork, instead of being permit- 

 ted to pass through his natural transformations, preparatory to bring- 

 ing forth fresh hordes of fruit destroyers. More than this, no other 

 animal, except the sheep, will so eifectually distribute the fertilizer, 

 manufactured on the spot from unadulterated materials, as the hog, 

 and if he be given a fair allowance of these materials, in the shape of 

 moderate rations of grain, he will not only manufacture, transport and 

 distribute this fertilizer free of charge, but will cheerfully pay for the 

 privilege of doing so. 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 



If any one supposes that the few active members of organizations 

 of this character set themselves up as Solomons and that their sole 

 mission is teaching others, they are mistaken. It is quite possible 

 that some men engaged in the growing of fruit who feel that they can 

 learn nothing at a horticultural meeting, are wiser than their neigh- 



H R— 24 



