HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 185 



show you what I mean: I've asked a score or 

 more of commercial orchardists hereabouts if 

 they could tell me offhand how many petals an 

 apple blossom has, and they've guessed all the 

 way from four to a dozen. I've talked with 

 farmers who couldn't say for sure whether a 

 cow's hoof is split or entire. I've talked with 

 farmers who simply didn't know how a pea- 

 pod is attached to the vine. I've talked with 

 farmers who had been looking pigs in the face 

 all their lives but who couldn't tell to save them 

 how a pig's snout appears from the front. 

 Extreme cases? No, they're not. You try it 

 on the next farmer you meet. Ask him 

 whether the germ side of a kernel of corn on 

 the ear lies toward the tip or the butt. Ask 

 him to tell you, in feet and inches, about how 

 long a horse's head is from the base of its ears 

 to its nostrils. Show him a fake picture of a 

 potato plant in bloom and ask him to tell you 

 what's wrong with it. Let me tell you, you 

 have some surprises in store for you if you're 

 expecting accuracy. 



What kept bothering me for two or three 

 years was the feeling of strangeness out of 

 doors under the unfamiliar conditions. Inas- 

 much as this is meant to be a perfectly honest 



