234 THE FAT OF THE LAND 



pigeon's. A jury, mostly of blackbirds, found 

 the charge " not proven," and the case was dis- 

 missed. I was convinced by the result of this 

 trial that the only safe way would be to provide 

 enough cherries for the birds and for the people 

 too, and ordered fifty more trees for fall plant- 

 ing. I found by experience, that if one would 

 have bird neighbors (and who would not ?), he 

 must provide liberally for their wants and also 

 for their luxuries. I have stolen a march as 

 to the cherries by planting scores of mulberry 

 trees, both native and Russian. Birds love mul- 

 berries even better than they do cherries, and we 

 now eat our pies in peace. To make amends for 

 this ruse, I have established a number of drink- 

 ing fountains and free baths ; all of which have 

 helped to make us friends. 



In August I sold, near the top of a low mar- 

 ket, 156 young hogs. At $4.50 per hundred, the 

 bunch netted me $1807. They did not weigh 

 quite as much as those sold the previous autumn, 

 and I found two ways of accounting for this. 

 The first and most probable was that fall pigs do 

 not grow so fast as those farrowed in the spring. 

 This is sufficient to account for the fact that the 

 herd average was twenty pounds lighter than 

 that of its predecessor. I could not, however, 

 get over the notion that Anderson's nervousness 

 had in some way taken possession of the swine 

 (we have Holy Writ for a similar case), and that 

 they were wasted in growth by his spirit of 



