OUT OF THE RUTS. 47 



each. Another scheme which commended itself, to my judg- 

 ment very strongly, and one which I have had reason to 

 regret that I did not try on a small scale, was the setting out 

 of osier or basket-willows. I had about six acres of land well 

 adapted to their growth ; and, as it has proved, it would have 

 been a profitable enterprise. This subject of making choice 

 of a crop as a specialty engaged my thoughts far into the 

 spring, and yet I was undecided what to do. One thing 

 was firmly fixed in my mind, and that was to make a change. 

 I was determined to get out of the ruts, if I broke the wheel 

 in the attempt. About this time I received a catalogue from 

 a nurseryman ; and the result was, that I sent him an order 

 for four hundred grape-vines, two hundred currant-bushes, 

 and two thousand strawberry-plants, hoping, by selecting a 

 variety, I might be able to discover which was best adapted 

 to my soil. Up to this time I had been regarded as a hard- 

 working, level-headed farmer, thoroughly orthodox in .the 

 practice of deep-ploughing, manuring in the hill, and of rais- 

 ing on the farm, so far as was possible, every article of con- 

 sumption that was supposed to be needed in a farmer's family. 

 But now it was said that a strange freak had come over me ; 

 and the predictions of my neighbors were any thing but flat- 

 tering. It is with pleasure, however, that I remember, that, 

 in what was regarded as my folly, I had the sympathies of my 

 friends. While some thought that I might possibly succeed 

 in raising these crops (I never could sell them, for they were 

 not in demand in the market), others blamed me for under- 

 taking to do something of which I was totally ignorant. 

 Here I would say that ignorance should never deter a farmer 

 from doing what is best for him to do. Every one, if he have 

 any brains, should be able to do what others have done, and, 

 if he is. deficient in brains, any other business will be better 

 suited to his capacity than farming. One man came to me 

 in a very friendly spirit, and remonstrated with me against 

 raising strawberries in particular. How do you expect to 

 get them picked? you say they begin to ripen about the 

 middle of June, the busiest month in the year: have you 

 thought of that ? 



These and many other equally strong objections were 

 urged and met by suggesting that sufficient unto the day is 

 the evil thereof. In the fall I manured my currants, covered 



