Meanher,
ed, ient to be he
earliest est he
ground; indeed t easily to be put off. he
meaning of teady and self-respecting, this small herculean
labor, I kne. I came to love my rohough so many
more ted. ttaco t
strengtaeus. But whem? Only heaven
knoo make tion
of ths surface, which had yielded only cinquefoil,
blackberries, jo, and t s and
pleasant floead t shall I learn of
beans or beans of me? I ce I
o t is a fine broad
leaf to look on. My auxiliaries are ter
t fertility is in tself, which for
t part is lean and effete. My enemies are worms, cool days,
and most of all woodc er
of an acre clean. But jo and the
rest, and break up t he
remaining beans oo tougo meet
new foes.
from Boston to tive tohese very woods and
to t is one of t scenes stamped on
my memory. And noo-nige
very er. till stand han I; or, if some
umps, and a new
gro
eyes. Almost t springs from the same perennial
root in ture, and even I lengto clothe
t fabulous landscape of my infant dreams, and one of ts
of my presence and influence is seen in these bean leaves, corn
blades, and potato vines.
I planted about two acres and a was
only about fifteen years since the land was cleared, and I myself
out tumps, I did not give it any
manure; but in t appeared by the
arroinct nation had
anciently d ed corn and beans ere we men came
to clear to some extent, ed the soil
for this very crop.
Before yet any woodche road, or
t above the dew was on,
t it -- I o do
all your work if possible wo level
ty upon
ted, dabbling
like a plastic artist in t later in
tered my feet. ted me to hoe
beans, pacing slo yellow gravelly
upland, beteen rods, the one end
terminating in a s in the shade,
the green berries deepened
tints by time I . Removing the
ting fres tems, and encouraging this
weed ws summer
t in bean leaves and blossoms rathan in wormwood and
piper and millet grass, making tead of grass
-- ttle aid from horses or
cattle, or s of husbandry, I
e han
usual. But labor of to the verge of
drudgery, is per form of idleness. It has a
constant and imperiso t yields a
classic result. A very agricola laboriosus o travellers
bound o nobody knows where;
tting at th elbows on knees, and reins
loosely oons; I taying, laborious native of
t soon my ead of t and t.
It ivated field for a great distance on
eit of it; and sometimes
travellers gossip and comment
t for ;Beans so late! peas so late!quot; -- for I
continued to plant wo erial
suspected it. quot;Corn, my boy, for fodder; corn
for fodder.quot; quot;Does ; asks t of the
gray coat; and tured farmer reins up eful dobbin
to inquire w you are doing whe furrow,
and recommends a little c, or any little e stuff, or it
may be aser. But wo acres and a half of
furro -- there
being an aversion to ots and far
aravellers as ttled by compared it aloud h
t I came to know ood
in tural in Mr. Colemans
report. And, by timates the crop which
nature yields in till he
crop of Englisure calculated,
tes and tas in all dells and pond-he
ures and swamps grows a rich and various crop only
unreaped by man. Mine ing link between
ivated fields; as some states are civilized, and others
hers savage or barbarous, so my field was,
t in a bad sense, a ivated field. they were beans
curning to tive state t I
cultivated, and my hem.
Near at opmost spray of a birche brown
to call he
morning, glad of your society, t another farmers
field if yours ing the seed, he
cries -- quot;Drop it, drop it -- cover it up, cover it up -- pull it
up, pull it up, pull it up.quot; But t corn, and so it was
safe from suc his rigmarole,
eur Paganini performances on one string or on ty, have
to do ing, and yet prefer it to leached ashes or
plaster. It op dressing in wire
faith.
As I dreill fres th my hoe, I
disturbed tions who in primeval years
lived under ts of war and
ing of they lay
mingled ural stones, some of whe marks of
he sun, and also
bits of pottery and glass broug cultivators
of tinkled against tones, t music
eco t to my
labor and immeasurable crop. It was no
longer beans t I hoed beans; and I remembered
y as pride, if I remembered at all, my acquaintances
y to attend torios. thawk
circled overernoons -- for I sometimes made a
day of it -- like a mote in the eye, or in heavens eye, falling
from time to time he heavens were
rent, torn at last to very rags and tatters, and yet a seamless cope
remained; small imps t fill the
ground on bare sand or rocks on tops of hills, where few have
found t up from the
pond, as leaves are raised by to float in the heavens; such
kindredsure. the wave
ed
o tal unfledged pinions of the sea. Or
sometimes I che sky,
alternately soaring and descending, approaching, and leaving one
anot of my os. Or I
tracted by to t,
quivering winnowing sound and carrier e; or from
under a rotten stump my urned up a sluggisentous and
outlandisted salamander, a trace of Egypt and t
our contemporary. o lean on my hese sounds and
sig of the
inexible entertainment wry offers.
On gala days tos great guns, which echo like
popguns to tial music occasionally
penetrate to me, a ther
end of to;
and urnout of w, I
imes of itching
and disease in tion
tina or canker-rasil at length some
more favorable puff of he
ayland road, brougion of t;trainers.quot; It seemed
by tant the
neigo Virgils advice, by a faint tintinnabulum
upon t sonorous of tic utensils, were endeavoring
to call to the sound died
quite a favorable breezes
told no tale, I kne t t drone of them all
safely into t no
on t was smeared.
I felt proud to kno ties of Massacts and of
our faturned to my
h an inexpressible confidence, and
pursued my labor crust in ture.
sounded as if all
t bellohe buildings expanded and
collapsed alternately sometimes it was a really
noble and inspiring strain t reacrumpet
t sings of fame, and I felt as if I could spit a Mexican h a
good relisand for trifles? -- and
looked round for a woodco exercise my chivalry
upon. tial strains seemed as far aine, and
reminded me of a marc
tantivy and tremulous motion of tree tops whe
village. t days; the sky had from my
clearing only tingly great look t it wears daily,
and I sa.
It long acquaintance which I
cultivated ing, and hoeing, and
ing, and the
last of all -- I miging, for I did taste.
I ermined to know beans. o
ill noon, and commonly spent
t of t otimate and
curious acquaintance one makes
eration in t, for ttle
iteration in turbing te organizations so
rutinctions h his hoe,
levelling ing
anots Roman s pigs sorrel
-- ts piper-grass -- urn s
upo t let he shade, if you
do urn other side up and be as green as a leek in
t hose
trojans whe
beans sao the
ranks of trench weedy dead.
Many a lusty crest -- towered a w above
.
temporaries devoted to the
fine arts in Boston or Rome, and oto contemplation in India,
and oto trade in London or Neher
farmers of Need to t I ed
beans to eat, for I am by nature a Pythagorean, so far as beans are
concerned, wing, and exchem
for rice; but, perc work in fields if only for
tropes and expression, to serve a parable-maker one day.
It , oo long,
migion. them no manure, and
did not hem unusualy well as far as I
, and in t;trut; as
Evelyn says, quot;no compost or laetation o this
continual motion, repastination, and turning of the
spade.quot; quot;t; ;especially if fresh, has a
certain magnetism in it, by tracts t, power, or
virtue (call it eit life, and is the logic of all
tir it, to sustain us; all dungings and
otemperings being but to this
improvement.quot; Moreover, t; and
exed lay fields w; had perchance, as
Sir Kenelm Digby ttracted quot;vital spiritsquot; from the
air. I ed twelve bushels of beans.
But to be more particular, for it is complained t Mr. Coleman
ed cs of gentlemen farmers,
my outgoes were,--
For a hoe ................................... $ 0.54
Plowing, oo much.
Beans for seed ............................... 3.12+
Potatoes for seed ............................ 1.33
Peas for seed ................................ 0.40
turnip seed .................................. 0.06
e line for crow fence .................... 0.02
ivator and boy three hours ......... 1.00
to get crop ................... 0.75
--------
In all .................................. $14.72+
My income rem familias vendacem, non emacem esse
oportet), from
Nine buss of beans sold .. $16.94
Fivequot;large potatoes ..................... 2.50
Ninequot;small .............................. 2.25
Grass ........................................... 1.00
Stalks .......................................... 0.75
-------
In all .................................... $23.44
Leaving a pecuniary profit,
as I have elsewhere said, of .............. $ 8.71+
t of my experience in raising beans: Plant the
common small of June, in rohree
feet by eig, being careful to select fresh round
and unmixed seed. First look out for worms, and supply vacancies by
planting ane for woodc is an exposed
place, for t tender leaves almost
clean as tendrils make their
appearance, tice of it, and will sh
botting erect like a squirrel. But above
all as early as possible, if you s and
his means.
to myself, I will
not plant beans and corn ry anot
suc lost, as sincerity, truth,
simplicity, fait
grooil and manurance, and sustain
me, for surely it been exed for these crops. Alas! I
said to myself; but noher,
and anoto say to you, Reader, t the seeds
ues,
en or tality, and so did not come up.
Commonly men hers were brave, or
timid. tion is very sure to plant corn and beans each
neuries ago and taughe
first settlers to do, as if te in it. I saw an old
man to my astonis, making th a hoe
for tietime at least, and not for o lie down
in! But ry neures, and
not lay so mucress on ato and grass crop, and
hese? hy concern ourselves
so muc our beans for seed, and not be concerned at all about
a neion of men? e should really be fed and cheered if
o see t some of ties
wher
productions, but broadcast and floating
in taken root and grown in him. here comes such a
subtile and ineffable quality, for instance, as trutice,
test amount or ney of it, along the road.
Our ambassadors sructed to send home such seeds as
to distribute the land. e
sand upon ceremony y. e should never
c and insult and banishere
t
meet te. Most men I do not meet at all, for they seem
not to ime; t t
deal hus plodding ever, leaning on a hoe or a spade as a
staff betially risen out
of t, like sed and
he ground:--
quot;And as hen
Spread, as to fly, t;
so t we migh an angel.
Bread may not al al even
takes stiffness out of our joints, and makes us supple and buoyant,
o recognize any generosity in man
or Nature, to share any unmixed and heroic joy.
Ancient poetry and myt, at least, t husbandry
; but it is pursued e and
being to have large farms and large
crops merely. e ival, nor procession, nor ceremony,
not excepting our cattle-shanksgivings, by which
the sacredness of his calling, or is
reminded of its sacred origin. It is t
to Ceres and terrestrial
Jove, but to tus rather. By avarice and
selfis, from which none of us is free,
of regarding ty, or the means of acquiring
property che landscape is deformed, husbandry is degraded
of lives. ure
but as a robber. Cato says t ts of agriculture are
particularly pious or just (maximeque pius quaestus), and according
to Varro t;called ther and Ceres, and
t t tivated it led a pious and useful life, and
t t of turn.quot;
e are to forget t tivated
fields and on ts distinction. they
all reflect and absorb a
small part of ture which he beholds in his daily
course. In ivated like a
garden. t of and
rust and magnanimity. though I
value t t in the
year? t so long looks not to
me as tivator, but ao influences more
genial to it, green. these beans have
results grow for
(in Latin spica, obsoletely
speca, from spe, be the
s kernel or grain (granum from gerendo, bearing) is
not all t it bears. fail? Shall I
not rejoice also at the
granary of t matters little comparatively whe
fields fill true husbandman will cease from
anxiety, as t no concern whe woods will
bear cnuts t, and finish every
day, relinquiso the produce of his fields, and
sacrificing in only but fruits also.