34 THE TIM BUNKEK PAPERS. 



* &quot; Swindle !&quot; echoed Uncle Jotham, as he rose and struck 

 his cane upon the floor, &quot; there has not been such a piece 

 of rascality afloat since the Multicaulus fever. I got caught 

 then with a Chinaman, and vowed I never would have any 

 thing more to do with book-farming. But those stories in 

 my New York paper looked so mighty plausible, that I 

 was taken in agin. You see, if they had been in an agri 

 cultural paper, I wouldn t ve read em. But coming in a 

 political paper, I thought they were all right. But I have 

 now come to the conclusion that there is a mighty difference 

 between potatoes and politics. A man sound in politics 

 may be a blind guide in vegetables. Why, them things 

 cost me nearly a dollar apiece, they did not half come up, 

 and what did come up might as well have staid down, 

 they were such thin, stringy, consarns. Potatoes a yard 

 long, and a rod of ground supporting a family ! ! Why, 

 at the rate mine yielded, it would take an acre of em to 

 support a pig, and if the one our folks cooked was a fair 

 sample, the pigs might have em in welcome.&quot; 



Tim Bunker, Esq., here got the floor, and, with a side 

 glance at Jotham, said : &quot; It would be well if cultivators 

 who were going into new things would take a reliable 

 agricultural paper, published by men who understand the 

 business, and have access to the best sources of information 

 in regard to the novelties that come out. He was not 

 caught in this humbug, thanks to the American Agricul 

 turist, which gave timely warning to all its readers last 

 winter. The fact is, there is too much of a disposition to 

 mix up things in the papers. I think a political paper bet 

 ter stick to politics and news, and a religious paper stick to 

 religion and missions, and when we have a farmers paper, 

 let the editor stick to his text, and not hash up potatoes 

 with love stories. I don t mean to reflect upon any rural 

 paper in particular. For my part, I want a simple diet in 

 my paper as well as upon my table. Then I know pretty 

 much what I have got before me, and it is all plain sailing. 



