EARLY MANHOOD IN THE MIDDLE WEST 157 



Sometimes Lars rode and sometimes he didn't but 

 when that field was mowed I paid my respects to 

 him and the mules. Warm rains in September 

 caused the grass, which had not seen clear daylight 

 for years, to spring up and grow lusciously; and 

 when the Board of Trustees travelled over it in 

 coming from the station to the College, they could 

 not help observing with approval the change from 

 an unkept, weedy lowland, to a green pasture 

 dotted with fine Shorthorn, Devon and Ayrshire 

 cattle. 



I might as well finish the history of that low-land 

 field just here, although it will take me into the 

 second and third years of my stay at the I. A. C. 

 The next spring it was plowed for the first time. 

 The accepted method of subduing wild prairie land 

 was then to use a " breaker " ; but the plow we 

 used was not a breaker and hence would not kink 

 the furrows so that the wild grass would " burn 

 out," that is, perish for want of moisture during 

 the summer. Our plow laid the furrows flat and 

 unless something more was done the last state of 

 that field might be worse than the first. The 

 students, with axes in hand, followed down every 

 fourth furrow-slice and at intervals of about four 

 feet cut a slit in the sod, dropped some grains of 



