194 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



an animal, to furnish fertility to raise another 

 plant, to feed another animal to make more fer- 

 tility; the farmer to take his toll as the links 

 revolved. 



While meditating on this matter of raising 

 beets, the thought came to me : how did my father 

 raise those fine beets in chopping the tops of which 

 I cut off my sister's index finger? Then I remem- 

 bered that as early as he could get the ground in 

 good condition he always planted onions, peas, 

 beets and other frost-resisting plants. So next 

 spring I planted mangel wurtzels in April. The 

 seeds germinated better than before and the beets 

 got a good start before the warm weather germ- 

 inated the weed seeds. This simple knowledge 

 which had come down to me from a former gen- 

 eration, reduced the cost of raising mangolds be- 

 low five cents even as low as three cents per 

 bushel, occasionally thus making their cost as 

 well as their feeding value compare favorably with 

 other cattle foods. It was in such simple and ac- 

 cidental ways that the agricultural pioneers blazed 

 the way before experiment stations were estab- 

 lished. 



I purposely over-stocked the farm in order to 

 have an abundant supply of barn manure to restore 



