the olden times you must
remember that we had none but English actors in this country,--and as
soon as they came here, they wanted to own land. They could not do it in
England. The elder Booth owned a farm at Bellaire. Thomas Cooper, the
celebrated English tragedian, bought a farm near Philadelphia, and it is
a positive fact that he is the first man who ever owned a fast trotting
horse in America. He used to drive from the farm to rehearsal at the
theatre, and I believe has been known on some occasions, when in
convivial company, even to drive out at night afterwards. [Laughter.]
Following and emulating the example of my illustrious predecessors I
became a farmer. I will not allude to my plantation in Louisiana; my
overseer takes care of that. I have not heard from him lately but I am
told he takes very good care of it. [Laughter.] I trust there was no
expression of distrust on my part. But I allude to my farm in New
Jersey. I have not been so successful as Mr. Burroughs, but I was
attracted by a townsman and I bought a farm in New Jersey. I went out
first to examine the soil. I told the honest farmer who was about to
sell me this place that I thought the soil looked rather thin; there was
a good deal of gravel. He told me that the gravel was the finest thing
for drainage in the world. I told him I had heard that, but I had always
presumed that if the gravel was underneath it would answer the purpose
better. He said: "Not at all; this soil is of that character that it
will drain both ways," by what he termed I think catepillary attraction.
[Laughter.] I bought the farm and set myself to work to increase the
breadth of my shoulders, to help my appetite, and so forth, about work
of a farm. I even went so far as to emulate the example set by Mr.
Burroughs, and split the wood. I did not succeed at that. Of course, as
Mr. Burroughs wisely remarks, the heat comes at both ends; it comes when
you split the wood and again when you burn it. But as I only lived at my
farm during the summer time, it became quite unnecessary in New Jersey
to split wood in July, and my farming operations were not successful.

We bought an immense quantity of chickens and they all turned out to be
roosters [laughter]; but I resolved--I presume as William Nye says about
the farm--to carry it on; I would _carry_ on that farm as long as my
wife's money lasted. [Laughter.] A great mishap was when my Alderney
bull got into the greenhouse. There was nothing