336 Grandfather^ s Old Farm. [July? 



that had previously been annually tolerated on the Smith place. The 

 superannuated cows " with crumpled horns " were turned into beef and 

 a brace of shining Durbams supplied their places. A sub- soil plow 

 found its way into the yard one morning, early in the spring, and a 

 "new-fangled" harrow followed this. Then came a new patent churn, 

 then a capital straw-cutter, then more "nasty ashes," then a seed drill; 

 and there was no end, said Ben senior, to the infernal machines that 

 Ben junior cluttered up the place with. 



Ben had been no idler meantime. He had drawn into the cow-yard 

 two hundred loads of pond muck the previous fall. He got plaster 

 enough and crushed bones and mixed with it, and when February came, 

 it was heaped out generously upon the four acres again. Everything 

 went on smilingly, and at haying time the "cap sheaf" of machinery 

 arrived. " What on earth is that ? " asked the old gentleman, as Ben put 

 his team before a new horse-rake. Ben laughed outright, and asked his 

 respected dad why he didn't read the papers. But his father said he 

 had no occasion — he knew enough. Again the old barn creaked under 

 their generous harvest of hay, and grain, and vegetables ; and again the 

 old man looked and sighed, and declared that "the season had been 

 remarkable, very." 



Ben hadn't room to stow away two-thirds of his year's produce ! But 

 Lis hay was excellent, his potatoes were noble ones ; his carrots, beets 

 and onions were splendid ; he had surplus rutabagas by the cord and 

 turnips and squashes and cabbages by the ton, all of which readily found 

 a good market several miles distant. Nobody believed it at first, but 

 all these fine products reall} came from the old Smith farm. AVhen the 

 snow and sleet rattled around that ancient mansion that winter, Ben 

 owed no man a dollar ; his barn, and bins, and cellars were well filled 

 and he had three hundred dollars in clean cash on hand ! Here was a 

 fortune. " Verily, Ben," said his parent, " you have been lucky, and the 

 seasons have been favorable." 



The elder Smith has been gathered to his fathers. Benjamin Smith, 

 Jr., Esq., is now a man of solid substance, a Justice of the peace. He 

 knows the diflFerence between partial and thorough cultivation ; he can 

 tell you the benefits of sub-soil plowing and shallow furrow ; he can tell 

 you whether and wherefore a piece of Suffolk pork or Durham beef is 

 preferable to that of the greyhound hog or the shingle-backed ox ; he 

 knows how to use the horserake and potato-dropper ; he will inform you 

 of the advantages to be derived from irrigation, from draining, from the 

 use of the phosphate of lime, and the like; he will show, on his farm, 

 big hay-stacks, generous squashes, huge potatoes, twelve-rowed corn, fat 



