1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



461 



she quickly brought, and he down with the ball ; 

 but in his haste, when he cocked his gun, he pull- 

 ed so hard on the lock, that he dislocated some 

 part of the inside work, so that when he took 

 aim, he could not pull it off, (but the bear was all 

 the time moving off with his hog.) lie callcd.to 

 his wife to bring a brand of fire, and when he 

 got aim, he would give the "word of command^" 

 and she must " touch it off." Well, "all was 

 ready," the command given, his wife applied the 

 fire-brand to the powder in the pan — " bang goes 

 the gun," but the bear had got so far off as to be 

 out of reach of his piece, and entered the woods 

 in triumph, with the hog in her mouth. What 

 could they do for meat the next winter ? Their 

 only hog was gone ! 



My grandfather returned that evening, and in 

 the taorning they went out to hunt for the hog in 

 the woods. After some search they found her 

 covered with leaves and brush, but partly eaten 

 up. They concluded to load both their guns witli 

 two bullets each, and set them cocked in a right 

 direction, with one end of a cord attached to the 

 triggers of the guns, and the other to a piece of 

 the pork, so that when the old l)ear came to take 

 her next meal, she would unconsciously shoot her- 

 self. About midnight they heard both guns go, 

 bang ! bang ! but in the morning no l)ear was to 

 be found, though both guns were fired off. They 

 gave her up for that time. The next fall, Mr. 

 K.'s cow was taken sick and died, which with the 

 loss of their liog, le^ them with but a small pros- 

 pect of milk and meat for the next year. 



They concluded' to put the carcass of the cow 

 in the woods near where the bear left the hog, in 

 hopes that the bear would come to feast on the 

 carcass of the cow, and perchance they might yet 

 capture her. It was not long before they found 

 tdatsome animal of not very "small proportions" 

 was helping itself to not very small quantities of 

 the '■^ extra beef." Mr. K. and my grandfather ap- 

 pointed a night to go and watch near the carcass 

 of the cov.', lor the bear. They loaded both their 

 guns with two balls each, and just at dusk they 

 went to the woods, and seated themselves six or 

 eight ro'ds from the carcass, at the roots and on 

 opposite sides of a large hemlock tree, with the 

 agreement to keep as still as possible for an hour 

 or two, as they expected that the bear would (rome 

 the fore part of the night, if at all. They sat still 

 for about two hours, without any conversation, 

 their backs resting against the big tree, and the 

 breech of their guns resting on the ground between 

 their f-.'ct, and as they were on opposite sides of 

 the tree, they had a view of all points of the com- 

 pass ; but with all tlieirgazings and listening they 

 could neither see, nor hear anything of the bear. 



It had now got to be past ten o'clock, and ex- 

 tremely dark ; and as ray grandfather had been at 

 work very liard through the day, he was quite 

 tired, and ventured to whisper to Mr. K, that he 

 thouglit it best to go home, as the bear would liave 

 probalily been there by that time if she had been 

 coming at all that night ; and if she did come, it 

 was so dark they could not see her five rods off. 

 Mr. K. replied, tliat if he would wait a short 

 time, and the bear did not come, tliey would go 

 home. They again kept still as the darkness 

 around them; — in about fifteen minutes my grand- 

 father heard the click of Mr. K.'s gun, as tliougli 

 he were cocking it, and in another minute "whang" 



goes his gun, and there was such a bounding and 

 thrashing as indicated "something was disturb- 

 ed," while the discharge of the peace echoed 

 through "those grand old woods, "and sounded in 

 the "stilly night" like the discharge of a field- 

 piece. Mr. K. thought before he tired, that he 

 heard something moving among the leaves, that 

 made not much more noise than a mouse. He 

 gazed with all his might into the darkness, in the 

 direction of the slight noise, and thought he could 

 discover a spot blacker than darkness ; he cocked 

 his gun, raised it to his face, but he could see 

 nothing, and all was still. He waited a moment, 

 and thought ho heard a slight crackle of dry twigs 

 and leaves ; he gazed again with all his power, 

 and thought he couldsee one spot l)lacker than the 

 darkness around, and that it slowly moved, lie 

 ventured to fire, and hence the thrashing and 

 bounding ; — something must be "scared if not 

 hurt;" but it was so dark that they could not 

 ascertain that night what had been done. They 

 went home, and in the morning returned to the 

 woods to search for the game. About six rods 

 from the tree by which they sat, and in the direc- 

 tion that Mr. K. fired, they discovered the old 

 bear's tracks, which they followed, (and also 

 marks of blood on the leaves,) about twenty rods, 

 when they came to the old bear, — dead, dead, 

 dead ! Yes, 'twas "that same old bear," for there 

 was no hair on one side of his face, "on the place 

 where the wool used to grow." The charge of 

 powder that Mr. K. fired against it, when trying 

 to save his hog, bui-ned so deep that no hair ever 

 grew out. When they dressed her they found 

 seven musket and rifle balls in different parts of 

 her meat, and a charge of pidgeon shot in her 

 buttock. She weighed between seven and eight 

 hundred pounds, and had to answer for their 

 "pork" that winter ; though it was "bear's meat" 

 after all. Milan. 



Morristown, Vt. 



For Che New England Fanner. 



SOW THE WINTER WHEAT. 



Mr. Editor : — Dear Sir, — Universal drought 

 seems to have seared our whole country as with a 

 hot iron. 



The hay and grain harvests seem to have been 

 satisfactory, as far as they went. The pinch, or 

 general failure, falls upon the corn and potato 

 crops ; now suppose all the farmers of New Eng- 

 land had averaged this season three acres of win- 

 ter wheat or fifty bushels to the farm, would it 

 not have been comforting in these dubious days 

 wliich t!n"eaten tlie failure of otliercrops ? A fiir- 

 mer from N.ll., writes to a l)rother hiire, tluit he 

 has cut up his corn for fodder,and will not have a 

 peck of potatoes on his farm. 



'\Ve have patiently waited for lower prices in 

 breudstuffs — hoping that demand abroad would 

 lei^sen, l)ut this will bo met by increased consump- 

 tion at home. The new crop has noSveducod the 

 price of flour to so low a point as was expected; 

 liigh prices ai'C inevitable; these nva lessons and 

 warnini,rs not to be overlooked. Self-protection 

 and self-interest demand a universal effort among 

 your farmers ; they will yet be mud.? to believe 

 that wheat is as legitimate a crop among them, as 

 is winter rye. Practice will prove it. 



This is seed-time, the precious time to sow tly. 



