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Show TWO FARMS. Ben R. Eldrcdgc. After a long shift at my books from 5.3b a. m. to noon April 7th, I harnessed my horse and drove across the valley bent on looking over some luccnr land w'th a possible chance of a trade in mind. What a beautiful day iit was I And how everything seemed to thrill with the joy of liv- 1 ing. There is one place I visited, finely located, and distinguished from others oth-ers by an immense expanse of shingle shin-gle roofs, covering, it seemed to me, almost an acre of barn room; and I 1 had been told that this place was worth a visit, and, as I was looking for things worth while, Jdrovc into the yard to look the place over. Fences out of repa:r no gates, fruit j trees acres of them untrimmed, , grass growing thick and close about f the foots, with bark torn in scores i of places by the teeth of sheep and "j horses. Farm machinery, thousands ; A dollars worth; discarded and rust-" J ing junk in every direction; but I en- W tcrcd the barn horrors and desola- tionl A great, dismal damp hole un- j dcr the roof with not a brace or sup- j port standing true to line; no floor, ,j id the earth tramped into stiff dark ) brown mud; some corners are fenced 1 H(' off into pig pens, damp and foul; K here and there is an abortive effort K at sheep racks, and out in the middle H of the gloom is the hog-picked skcl- B cton of a horse, and strewn about m arc the vertebrae ribs and skulls ot M countless sheep that have been ft gleaned of flesh by that forced tobc m filthy scavenger, the hog. m What a foul unwholesome blot m what a waste of material and money jRf what a lesson in misdirected effort 1 JH The State ought to own that farm W and preserve it just as it is, that it X might be visited by our agricultural m students and there have indelibly stamped upon their minds the lesson ! of effort misdirected and means mis- tk applied. I had heard of another place that was worth seeing. It was said to be quite different, and I hastened there. I hustled my horse though the roads were rough in places but I I wanted to get away from that thing j that was stifling the beauty of the day that misshapen monstrosity shaded under 500,000 shingles, every one misplaced, and I hurried to the farm of Alexander Lee over into South Western comer of Taylors-villc. Taylors-villc. Mr. Lee was there and with , -. hm Mr. Hcmcnway, thc successful apple -man from Granger. They were looking over the young trees that had recently .been planted. Fences up, gates hung and painted? yards neat and cloan, trees carefully pruned prun-ed and protected from every intrus-ion intrus-ion of the stock. Some trees about I the yards being individually fenced. 1 I Everything carefully iplanncd and I placed. Out in the field, properly I fenced for their protection, were a ' huii(frcd ibcauliful ewes with their m v early lambs. Some of these spring lambs had already been sold at $5 M per head. In another place, biting S at the young grass, were twenty or M twenty-five thrifty shoats and on the s. sunny side of proper buildings, thoroughly thor-oughly enjoying life, we found several sev-eral brood sows with prolific litters of white and spotted pigs. Each litter lit-ter in a pile that separated with frisks and squeaks as we poked about to see how many we could count. Upon a rising swell of ground and backed by a young orchard, which from 'ts fust bearing season, last year yielded 400 bushels of ganos, is the site Mr. Lee has selected for his farm home. Look around. There arc some evergreens, placed accord- f ing to a well marked out plan and, over here is a row of lilacs, wc can tell by the buds the varieties. Sec. here is the tender green thatiarks the kind that bears the white flower and there is the da"rkcr .bud, real old-fashioned old-fashioned kindthat used to grow in grandma's graden. Mr. Lee is a well-raised English-man, English-man, loving order, admiring beauty, and with an Englishman's love of sport. On the north side of the granary is nailed a collection of skulls, skulls of coyotes, captured on the Western range by Mr. Lee's wolf hounds, with which he sometimes some-times goes out for a chase and these hounds arc beauties, well bred, well behaved, well kept and cared for as is everything else about the place. Here is the antidote for that horror I saw a few hours before, and when I think it over, let mc say to anyone who ever visits that other place, be sure and take the antidote, go to Lee's, and you will still sec it is worth while and you will think: "Yes i life is worth living." - .. |
