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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=416905" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>What Smith Knew About Farming</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">There wasn't two purtier farms in the state<br>Than the couple of which I'm about to relate;--<br>Jinin' each other--belongin' to Brown,<br>And jest at the edge of a flourishin' town.<br>Brown was a man, as I understand,<br>That allus had handled a good 'eal o' land,<br>And was sharp as a tack in drivin' a trade--<br>For that's the way most of his money was made.<br>And all the grounds and the orchards about<br>His two pet farms was all tricked out<br>With poppies and posies<br>And sweet-smellin' rosies;<br>And hundreds o' kinds<br>Of all sorts o' vines,<br>To tickle the most horticultural minds<br>And little dwarf trees not as thick as your wrist<br>With ripe apples on 'em as big as your fist:<br>And peaches,--Siberian crabs and pears,<br>And quinces--Well! ANY fruit ANY tree bears;<br>And th purtiest stream--jest a-swimmin' with fish,<br>And--JEST O'MOST EVERYTHING HEART COULD WISH!<br>The purtiest orch'rds--I wish you could see<br>How purty they was, fer I know it 'ud be<br>A regular treat!--but I'll go ahead with<br>My story! A man by the name o' Smith--<br>(A bad name to rhyme,<br>But I reckon that I'm<br>Not goin' back on a Smith! nary time!)<br>'At hadn't a soul of kin nor kith,<br>And more money than he knowed what to do with,--<br>So he comes a-ridin' along one day,<br>And HE says to Brown, in his offhand way--<br>Who was trainin' some newfangled vines round a bay-<br>Winder--'Howdy-do--look-a-here--say:<br>W hat'll you take fer this property here?--<br>I'm talkin' o' leavin' the city this year,<br>And I want to be<br>Where the air is free,<br>And I'll BUY this place, if it ain't too dear!'--<br>Well--they grumbled and jawed aroun'--<br>'I don't like to part with the place,' says Brown;<br>'Well,' says Smith, a-jerkin' his head,<br>'That house yonder--bricks painted red--<br>Jest like this'n--a PURTIER VIEW--<br>Who is it owns it?' 'That's mine too,'<br>Says Brown, as he winked at a hole in his shoe,<br>'But I'll tell you right here jest what I KIN do:--<br>If you'll pay the figgers I'll sell IT to you.,'<br>Smith went over and looked at the place--<br>Badgered with Brown, and argied the case--<br>Thought that Brown's figgers was rather too tall,<br>But, findin' that Brown wasn't goin' to fall,<br>In final agreed,<br>So they drawed up the deed<br>Fer the farm and the fixtures--the live stock an' all.<br>And so Smith moved from the city as soon<br>As he possibly could--But 'the man in the moon'<br>Knowed more'n Smith o' farmin' pursuits,<br>And jest to convince you, and have no disputes,<br>How little he knowed,<br>I'll tell you his 'mode,'<br>As he called it, o' raisin' 'the best that growed,'<br>In the way o' potatoes--<br>Cucumbers--tomatoes,<br>And squashes as lengthy as young alligators.<br>'Twas allus a curious thing to me<br>How big a fool a feller kin be<br>When he gits on a farm after leavin' a town!--<br>Expectin' to raise himself up to renown,<br>And reap fer himself agricultural fame,<br>By growin' of squashes--WITHOUT ANY SHAME--<br>As useless and long as a technical name.<br>To make the soil pure,<br>And certainly sure,<br>He plastered the ground with patent manure.<br>He had cultivators, and double-hoss plows,<br>And patent machines fer milkin' his cows;<br>And patent hay-forks--patent measures and weights,<br>And new patent back-action hinges fer gates,<br>And barn locks and latches, and such little dribs,<br>And patents to keep the rats out o' the cribs--<br>Reapers and mowers,<br>And patent grain sowers;<br>And drillers<br>And tillers<br>And cucumber hillers,<br>And horries;--and had patent rollers and scrapers,<br>And took about ten agricultural papers.<br>So you can imagine how matters turned out:<br>But BROWN didn't have not a shadder o' doubt<br>That Smith didn't know what he was about<br>When he said that 'the OLD way to farm was played out.'<br>But Smith worked ahead,<br>And when any one said<br>That the OLD way o' workin' was better instead<br>O' his 'modern idees,' he allus turned red,<br>And wanted to know<br>What made people so<br>INFERNALLY anxious to hear theirselves crow?<br>And guessed that he'd manage to hoe his own row.<br>Brown he come onc't and leant over the fence,<br>And told Smith that he couldn't see any sense<br>In goin' to such a tremendous expense<br>Fer the sake o' such no-account experiments<br>'That'll never make corn!<br>As shore's you're born<br>It'll come out the leetlest end of the horn!'<br>Says Brown, as he pulled off a big roastin'-ear<br>From a stalk of his own<br>That had tribble outgrown<br>Smith's poor yaller shoots, and says he, 'Looky here!<br>THIS corn was raised in the old-fashioned way,<br>And I rather imagine that THIS corn'll pay<br>Expenses fer RAISIN' it!--What do you say?'<br>Brown got him then to look over his crop.--<br>HIS luck that season had been tip-top!<br>And you may surmise<br>Smith opened his eyes<br>And let out a look o' the wildest surprise<br>When Brown showed him punkins as big as the lies<br>He was stuffin' him with--about offers he's had<br>Fer his farm: 'I don't want to sell very bad,'<br>He says, but says he,<br>'Mr. Smith, you kin see<br>Fer yourself how matters is standin' with me,<br>I UNDERSTAND FARMIN' and I'd better stay,<br>You know, on my farm;--I'm a-makin' it pay--<br>I oughtn't to grumble!--I reckon I'll clear<br>Away over four thousand dollars this year.'<br>And that was the reason, he made it appear,<br>Why he didn't care about sellin' his farm,<br>And hinted at his havin' done himself harm<br>In sellin' the other, and wanted to know<br>If Smith wouldn't sell back ag'in to him.--So<br>Smith took the bait, and says he, 'Mr. Brown,<br>I wouldn't SELL out but we might swap aroun'--<br>How'll you trade your place fer mine?'<br>(Purty sharp way o' comin' the shine<br>Over Smith! Wasn't it?) Well, sir, this Brown<br>Played out his hand and brought Smithy down--<br>Traded with him an', workin' it cute,<br>Raked in two thousand dollars to boot<br>As slick as a whistle, an' that wasn't all,--<br>He managed to trade back ag'in the next fall,--<br>And the next--and the next--as long as Smith stayed<br>He reaped with his harvests an annual trade.--<br>Why, I reckon that Brown must 'a' easily made--<br>On an AVERAGE--nearly two thousand a year--<br>Together he made over seven thousand--clear.--<br>Till Mr. Smith found he was losin' his health<br>In as big a proportion, almost, as his wealth;<br>So at last he concluded to move back to town,<br>And sold back his farm to this same Mr. Brown<br>At very low figgers, by gittin' it down.<br>Further'n this I have nothin' to say<br>Than merely advisin' the Smiths fer to stay<br>In their grocery stores in flourishin' towns<br>And leave agriculture alone--and the Browns.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=James+Whitcomb+Riley">James Whitcomb Riley</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=416905" data-title="What Smith Knew About Farming de James Whitcomb Riley" data-description="There wasn't two purtier farms in the state
Than the couple of which I'm about to relate;--
Jinin' each other--belongin' to Brown,
And jest at the edge of a flourishin' town.
Brown was a man, as I understand,
That allus had handled a good 'eal o' ..."></div>
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