HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 231 



his hay because his rake wouldn't work clean 

 on the rough ground. Because he wasn't fond 

 of the burning middays he put most of the hay 

 into the stacks in the cool of the mornings be- 

 fore the dew was well dried off, and he built 

 the stacks in a shady place. Chance number 

 three. His stacks are heating badly; they're 

 bound to rot if they aren't torn down and dried 

 out and rebuilt. At that his hay will be black- 

 ened and poor in quality. 



Just across the fence our oats ripened per- 

 fectly, and we'll thresh a real crop. We re- 

 fused every one of the chances our neighbor 

 took. We got our seed where he got his, and 

 the fields were planted at the same time. Acre 

 for acre, we'll have twice as much straw as he 

 has hay, and we'll have our ripe grain besides. 

 There's just the difference. 



And there's the question of the second crop 

 following the small grain. Some of my neigh- 

 bors have laughed at me for that practice. 

 Not many of them observe it themselves. They 

 say it's too risky to plant cowpeas in the mid- 

 dle of summer, after wheat and oats harvest 

 that if the season happens to be an "off" one 

 they won't get hay enough to pay for the seed. 

 They insist that we're taking the gambler's 



