LIVESTOCK 21 



"When she was good she was very, very good, 

 And when she was bad she was horrid." 



I consulted skilled artisans, with a view of suit- 

 ably amending my pig-pen to masquerade as an 

 attractive henhouse; and while these somewhat 

 expensive amendments were in order I cast about 

 for means to improve the fertility of my farm. 



I greatly preferred the old-fashioned dressing 

 to manufactured fertilizers, and as the snow was 

 now overdue, I made arrangements to have a 

 large amount of dressing spread over my land 

 whenever the weather betokened snow. By these 

 means I expected to avoid any unpleasant odor 

 by an immediate covering of snow. And so, one 

 chill day when the sky was overcast and gray, the 

 wind northeast, and a few flakes of feathery snow 

 came silently sifting down, I notified the contrac- 

 tor, and before I left for the office, teams were 

 arriving and brawny Milesians were spreading 

 dressing thickly over our premises. 



The odor as I left was a bit penetrating, but a 

 brisk snow-storm was beginning, and I reassured 

 my family, who were individually expressing 

 what seemed to me an unreasonable disposition 

 to find fault with our arrangements. 



Within an hour the clouds had cleared away, 

 the sun came out, the snow melted, and the tem- 

 perature rose many degrees. I was so occupied 

 at my office that I did not think much about it 



