36 Third Annual Report 



until it would scarcely produce anything^ at all. You may ask 

 why we bought it. I didn't know any better. I was born and 

 brought up in a town ; my father was a minister. I thought 

 land was land, and didn't know any better, but I found out. The 

 best crop of wheat it would raise per acre was 8 bushels. The first 

 year we moved on the farm the mowing land averaged about a 

 quarter of a ton of hay to the acre and half of that weeds. I 

 planted an acre of potatoes. I got about 40 bushels of little ones 

 and scabby ones and all sorts of shapes. I don't suppose I could 

 have sold five bushels out of the 40. There are so many young 

 men here I am going to tell you of my experience. We went in 

 debt $3700 ; hadn't any capital, except 9 cows, one horse, wagon 

 and harness, — of course I had a wife and a baby or two in addi- 

 tion, — as poor as we could be. We went on there with the land 

 so poor it wouldn't produce scarcely anything, and still within a 

 dozen years we were cutting from 4 to 5 tons of clover hay per 

 acre, two cuttings in a season, and 33 to 38 bushels of wheat ; 

 we were getting from 200 to 250 bushels of merchantable 

 potatoes, just such potatoes as are on your exhibition shelves 

 here. We do not have as good a climate as you have here, and 

 those were not exceptional years, we would average those 

 amounts. We did not bring any fertility on to that land ; it was 

 practically brought up out of itself by our methods. Certainly 

 they are practical methods to work out like that. There were 

 times at first when I was obliged to take my team and go into 

 town, after we got 2 horses, and almost beg a job of hauling to 

 get a little money to buy food with. We had no money to spend 

 for anything at all. I remember a man once saying to me, 

 "Terry, if you would buy a new hat, nobody would know you ; 

 your clothes wear like the children of Israel's." They had to. 

 I had nothing to buy anything with. Gradually we built our land 

 up. \Vc made it fertile and then there was no trouble about our 

 debts. The house we lived in for 14 years while we were build- 

 ing up the fertility of this land we sold for $10 when we got 

 through with it. The house we are living in now, built 23 years 

 ago, with its contents, has cost us over $8,000, and our little 

 farm of 55 acres paid for it, — the farm that was supposed to be 

 utterly worthless, and has given us all the improvements. 



I may not impress this matter upon 3^our minds in any bet- 

 ter way' than by giving you a few little incidents regarding the 

 enriching of the soil. 



If there is anything that I have to be thankful for, it is 

 the fact that my father gave me a chance to obtain an educa- 

 tion. I had been trained in college to study and think, not to 

 work with my hands. When I got on this farm I could not help 

 but think. I began to study over matters. We had a tenant on 



