CHAPTER XIII 



PLANNING FOR THE TREES 



THE morning of September 17th a small trost 

 fell, just enough to curl the leaves of the corn 

 and show that it was time for it to be laid by. 

 Thompson, Johnson, Anderson, and the two men 

 from the woods, who were diverted from their 

 post-splitting for the time being, went gayly to 

 the corn fields and attacked the standing grain 

 in the old-fashioned way. This was not economi- 

 cal ; but I had no corn reaper, and there was none 

 to hire, for the frost had struck us all at the same 

 time. The five men were*kept busy until the two 

 patches about forty-three acres were in shock. 

 This brought us to the 24th. In the meantime 

 the men and women moved from the cottage to 

 the more commodious farm-house. Polly had 

 found excuses for spending $100 more on the 

 furnishings of this house, two beds and a lot 

 of other things. Sunday gave the people a 

 chance to arrange their affairs, and they cer- 

 tainly appreciated their improved surroundings. 



The cottage was moved to its place on the 

 line, and the last of the seeding on the north 

 forty was done. Ten tons of fertilizer were 

 sown on this forty -acre tract (at a cost of 1250), 



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