306 HOW TO GET A FAKM, 



stand as we were about starting, and remarked to her that 

 it was one of her favorite American authors Hawthorne. 

 I casually observed that I was pleased to see that young 

 American authors found admirers with English ladies, when 

 the conversation turned on books and authors. But I said 

 to myself pretty soon, this is a literary lady probably 

 her husband is an editor or reviewer, and she uses the 

 scissors for him ; at all events, I must retreat from this 

 discussion about authors, modern poets, and poetry. What 

 should a farmer know critically of such things ? If I were 

 only in those fields, if the conversation could be made to 

 turn upon crops, or cattle, then I should feel quite at home. 



&quot; I finally pointed out a field of wheat, and remarked 

 that it was very fine. The lady, carefully observing it, 

 said, Sir, I think it is too thin a common fault this sea 

 son as the seeding was late. Those drills, she added, 

 turning to her husband for his confirmation, * cannot be 

 more than ten inches apart, and you see the ground is not 

 completely covered twelve, and even fifteen inches, is now 

 preferred for the width of drills, and two bushels of seed 

 to the acre will then entirely cover the ground, on good 

 land, so you can hardly distinguish the drills. 



&quot; If the goddess Ceres had appeared with her sheaf or 

 cornucopia, I could not have been more taken by surprise. 

 A lady descanting on the width of wheat drills, and the 

 quantity of seed ! I will try her again this may be a 

 chance shot, and remarked in reference to a field of ploughed 

 ground we were passing, that it broke up in great lumps, 

 and could hardly be put in good tilth. We have much 

 clay land like this, she replied, and formerly it was diffi 

 cult to cultivate it in a tillage crop, but since the introduc 

 tion of Crosskill s clod crusher, it will make the most 

 beautiful tilth in these lands, which are now regarded as 

 our best lands for wheat. 



