24 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



as enthusiastic as the older brother over the beauty 

 and promise of the little alfalfa field. He took off 

 his coat and helped with the farm work and enjoyed 

 it hugely till September came, when he went away to 

 school again. It happened that he never finished 

 his education in school; the confinement of the 

 schoolroom was too much for his health, so fortu- 

 nately for the farm he came back a few years later 

 to be a partner, and later to have almost entire man- 

 agement of the farm. Willis dreams dreams of his 

 own and makes them come true, and he loyally car- 

 ries out the plans of the writer. Woodland Farm 

 owes its final development very largely to the en- 

 ergy and executive ability of this younger brother 

 Willis. And there was another brother yet, a sturdy 

 lad, Charles, growing up at home; he grew to be 

 the largest and strongest of them all and mightily 

 he bent his muscle to help with the work. Later he 

 too spent years in the West, ranching with sheep 

 and cattle, and harvesting alfalfa hay there. Then 

 he also came home and found on Woodland Farm 

 ample scope for all his energies. It is true, is it not, 

 that any work is as big as the man who undertakes 

 that work? 



That first summer was uneventful save in the fact 

 that the alfalfa grew so well on the trial patch. It 

 was a year of drouth and the corn crop was nearly 

 ruined, only about 500 bushels in all being harvested. 

 The chief events were the long and delightful drives 

 that the boy took with his sweetheart and the fre- 

 quent walks he took to watch his alfalfa. When 



