Page:Familiar letters of Henry David Thoreau.djvu/303

 MT. 37.] TO HARRISON BLAKE. 279

Have you fought the good fight ? What is the state of your crops ? Will your harvest answer well to the seed-time, and are you cheered by the prospect of stretching cornfields ? Is there any blight on your fields, any murrain in your herds ? Have you tried the size and quality of your po tatoes ? It does one good to see their balls dangling in the lowlands. Have you got your meadow hay before the fall rains shall have set in ? Is there enough in your barns to keep your cattle over ? Are you killing weeds nowadays ? or have you earned leisure to go a-fishing ? Did you plant any Giant Regrets last spring, such as I saw advertised ? It is not a new species, but the result of cultivation and a fertile soil. They are excellent for sauce. How is it with your marrow squashes for winter use ? Is there likely to be a sufficiency of fall feed in your neighborhood ? What is the state of the springs ? I read that in your county there is more water on the hills than in the valleys. Do you find it easy to get all the help you require? Work early and late, and let your men and teams rest at noon. Be careful not to drink too much sweetened water, while at your hoeing, this hot weather. You can bear the heat much better for it.