2iS 
VAN KEF. FARMING.-NO. t>. 
YANKEE FARMING.—No. 6. 
Good people all of every sort, 
Give ear unto my song ; 
And if you find it wondrous short, 
It cannot hold you long. 
Raking and Cocking .—As the weather was pro¬ 
mising, Uncle Sim preferred to let the hay remain 
out one night, to sweat in the cock, before being 
taken into the barn. This he thought made it cure 
quite as green and fragrant as if it went in the 
same day, and rendered it much less likely to fire 
in the mow: nor did it by this process, require half 
the quantity of salt to preserve it. 
To facilitate gathering the hay and to show my 
neighbors something new, I had brought up with 
me the horse rake which I had recently purchased, 
hitched in Mr. Doolittle’s old mare to draw it, 
mounted Peter (his youngest son), on her back to 
guide her, took hold of the handles myself, and 
went to work. To their surprise they found it 
winrowed the hay quite as fast as they could do it 
with all their hand rakes. 
Everything was going on thus cleverly, when, 
who should appear in the field but Aunt Nabby, 
at the head of the whole posse of our wives, to take 
a look at my operations; for, misdoubting the 
working of the rake, our hostess had invited these 
ladies to come and spend the afternoon with her 
and take tea, determining in her own mind, in case 
of the failure of the Sargeant’s “ new patent gim- 
crack,” as she termed it, to hold them as a corps de 
reserve to help the men do up the raking. But Mrs. 
Doolittle had not long witnessed the beautiful evo¬ 
lutions of the horse rake, its clean and exact work, 
before doubt gave way to admiration and delight, 
and she exclaimed, “ Massy on me, how it does roll 
up the hay ! Who’d a guessed, now, with that ’ere 
old mare to draw, and our Pete to ride, and no liv¬ 
in’ parson but the Sargeant a holdin’, it would spin 
so. Wal, if it don’t beat all natur a rakin’. I’ve 
heern a good deal about its workin’, but that is 
nothin’ at all to seein’. How it slips and slides! 
Why ’tis jest as easy as runnin’ on glare ice; and 
then it turns over and over with a click clack, as 
reg’lar as the old wooden clock we bought so long 
ago of that’ere ’cute pedlin’ chap, Mr. Slick. If it 
was’nt our own hoss now I see there, and our own 
livin’ boy a ridin’, I never would a b’lieved my 
eyes • for the Sargeant holdin’ and guidin’ is no¬ 
thin’. He, and Mr. Jones who stands laughin’ there, 
is ollous cuttin’ up some new tantrum, that nobody 
knows nothin’ about ’cept themselves. I ax your 
pardon, Miss Teltrue,” she added, turning round 
to my wife; “but you know I’m a plain woman 
and must speak my mind.” 
Here her curiosity in regard to the operations of 
the rake was wound up to an irrepressible pitch; 
and with the view of examining it more particular¬ 
ly, she approached so close, that as it revolved with 
a heavy load, an outside tooth caught the lower 
part of her dress, and giving a sudden turn, threw 
her flat on her face into the winrow, completely 
enveloping her in the hay. The other ladies and 
myself instantly sprang to her assistance; but as we 
removed the hay and lifted her up, we found she 
was more frightened than hurt, and that a slightly- 
torn dress, with her cap set a little awry, were the 
only damages sustained. At this we burst into a 
hearty laugh at her expense, in which she joined 
with great good humor, adding that she “ should’nt 
misdoubt the Sargeant’s rake agin as long as she 
was a livin’ body.” She then led off with her fe¬ 
male train for the house. 
Afternoon Lunch. —Past four o’clock soon came, 
and once more the fair Molly presented herself with 
her well-stored baskets. Excepting the ham, which 
had given place to some delicious custard pies, the 
contents were the same as in the forenoon. Again 
we adjourned to the old oak, and again the merry 
joke and laugh went round. Lunch over, Captain 
Truck was the first to rise and walk off towards 
his work; but in so doing, we observed, that he 
lurched a little first to the right and then to the 
left, and then his Jegs crossed each other in so pe¬ 
culiar a manner, that Uncle Sim took the liberty of 
asking him, “ Whether his schooner was in a gale 
o’ wind, with more sail on than it was comfortable 
to carry, or whether she had a little too much of 
ood old ‘ New England’ aboard, that water-logged 
er so badly?” At this the Captain stopped, turned 
round, gave a vehement gulp, put his rake head to 
his shoulder, pointed the end of the handle towards 
his interrogator, and squinting steadily along its 
surface, prepared to pull trigger, as if in the act of 
firing a musket, and then asked with a comical 
grin, if Mr. Doolittle wanted any owls shot.” 
This question so tickled Cesar, who was lying flat 
on the turf, gnawing at the last remnant of a pie 
crust, that he involuntarily burst into a regular 
horse laugh, and exclaimed, “Golly, Massa Cap’n, 
you’s got the wind’ard side on him dis tack.” He 
then commenced kicking up his heels, and rolling 
over and over along the ground, like a well-filled 
water cask, in order to let off his exuberant feel¬ 
ings, but soon brought up with his protuberant seat 
hard against a large hassock of grass. Here he 
rested a moment, when up he bounded with an 
alertness that no one present thought him before 
capable of, and giving a loud yell, clapped both 
hands on his posteriors, and ran for the nearest hay 
cock as if he were mad. Into this he plunged as 
much of his long body as it was possible, took off 
his wide-brimed straw hat and twirled it round and 
round his head with the velocity of a top-. • 
“What’s the matter, you great lubber,” cried the 
Captain, setting the end of the rake stale on the 
ground by way of support. “ Hornet, Massa Cap’n, 
hornets ’nough to sting dis nigger to def.” 
i£ Blow me, if there’s a single one within speaking 
distance,” replied the Captain, who by this time 
was well stirred up and quite himself again—“ ’twas 
only a wasps’ nest you set on, you foolish woolly 
head, and not one of the yaller bellies as I can 
see” (still winking a little hard), “ has followed 
you. So take a rake and go to work again, and 
do’nt frighten sober folks any more with your yell¬ 
in’.” 
At this, we all followed suit, Captain Truck took 
the lead, and just after sundown we completed rak¬ 
ing and cocking the hay. Uncle Sim now took oft 
his hat, thanked us for our assistance, and hoped 
we would be on the ground with our teams as soon 
as the dew was off the next morning, to help get 
in the hay; he then invited us all up to supper. 
The meal consisted of tea, an abundance of cold 
meats and vegetables left from the dinner, new 
