98 SAND, OR HAIRY VETCH 
thusiastic. He was ready to shout at the top of his 
voice “ Eureka!” But he read on until he came to 
where the description said: “It is suited to any soil, 
and is valuable in this respect, as it produces good crops 
on poor sandy soils, while on good land it grows to a 
height of four or five feet and produces enormous 
crops.” 
This was enough. He was convinced that he had 
been rewarded in his search, and had indeed found the 
precious alchemic soil-enriching art for which he had 
been searching, and immediately sat down with “pen 
in hand” and ordered seed enough to sow two acres. 
Yes, two whole acres! 
And now, in the light of six years’ experience with 
this valuable plant, the author smiles when he thinks 
that, being up against one of the hardest propositions 
of his life, and having placed in his hands the very thing 
that would overcome it, he only had nerve enough to 
order enough vetch seed to plant two acres, for had he 
possessed the nerve to have ordered enough to plant 
his entire farm, and then the following spring planted 
the same in field corn, as subsequent experience demon- 
strated, he would have received from the corn crop al- 
most the purchase price of the farm. 
In due time the seed was received, and in August it 
was planted upon the poorest and most rolling two acres 
of sand land on the farm. It grew rapidly, and by 
winter the ground was so completely covered with its 
foliage that washing of the land was entirely prevented. 
An examination of the roots showed them set thick with 
nitrogen nodules. Early in the spring, before any other 
