A LOVER OF THE LAND 255 



reduced to about 400 per year. Good, well-bred 

 two-year-old cattle were bought in the fall and 

 carried in the stalkfields until spring. About March 

 1 they were put in pasture well matted with cured 

 grass, and the feeding of ear corn was commenced. 

 The grain was thrown out daily from the wagons 

 onto the grass, but never in the same place on 

 consecutive days. Hogs, of course, followed the 

 cattle. The beef thus made in the orthodox corn- 

 belt fashion was of prime quality, and the Grove 

 Park cattle were in eager request whenever they 

 were offered in the market. 



It is perhaps unfortunate for the state and for the 

 farming community at large that WILLIAM BROWN did 

 not devote more of his time to public affairs. He 

 was too modest and unassuming to push himself for- 

 ward, and too fond of the clover blossoms and the 

 cattle to permit his friends to saddle upon him any 

 irksome responsibilities. A charming host, a reserved 

 yet genial companion, not readily drawn out, but talk- 

 ing easily and entertainingly, he was a man of great 

 natural refinement and mental grace. 



In these days when men are so prone to lease 

 their lands to be farmed by tenants who usually leave 

 the soil poorer than they found it; when so many 

 fickle-minded folk are coming and going in the cattle- 



