96 - SAND, OR HAIRY VETCH 
dians in 1818 and by the Indians sold in 1833, and was 
cleared more than sixty years ago, and for many years 
produced large crops. It had always been farmed upon 
the principle of getting out of it all you can each year 
and putting nothing back into the soil. Under this sys- 
tem of farming the sandy or two-thirds portion of the 
farm had become so poor that in the best season it pro- 
duced but 15 to 20 bushels of corn, 5 to 10 bushels of 
oats and 10 bushels of wheat to the acre. Some sea- 
sons corn, oats and wheat were an entire failure. Even 
the black bottom portion was farmed in corn year after 
year until the yield fell to less than 40 bushels to the 
acre. In fine, the farm was just on the borderland of 
the abandoned farm. 
As the author has been up against many of the hard 
propositions of life, it did not take him long to learn 
that in acquiring this farm he had tackled more than he 
had anticipated. He was like the Indian who was being 
worsted in a hand-to-hand conflict and who exclaimed, 
“Me in a heap big fight.” 
To reclaim this land, the author soon realized, would 
require some work and study. 
The first season he planted the sandy portion to early 
peas for canning purposes. Seven weeks of dry weather 
reduced the crop to a money value of $10 per acre. 
Upon the removal of the peas the land was disced and 
planted in sweet corn before June 25. The sweet corn 
brought a money value of $15 per acre. 
Various crops were grown on the farm the first sea- 
son, to-wit: Peas, sugar corn, canning beets, field corn, 
tomatoes and potatoes. Some commercial fertilizer and 
