100 FARM SPIES 



wild and waste lands are not yet brought under 

 cultivation. Right here we are in one of the oldest 

 sections of the country and few people have more 

 than they could handle properly if they would." 



A general dispute had arisen by this time, in which 

 everyone wanted to w be heard, and it sounded some- 

 thing like the cackling of a flock of geese that had 

 been suddenly disturbed. 



"Be still there, gentlemen/' called Jim Ferguson. 

 "I have never known a time when Will could not 

 back his judgment, and I bet he can do it this time. 

 In spite of all the grasshoppers, he has made about as 

 good crops as if the grasshoppers had not been here. 

 We all know that he is a farmer in a class by himself, 

 and I want to hear him explain what he means by 

 saying that he wished there had been many more 

 of them." 



The group listened, and then quieted in order to 

 give William a chance to explain. 



Mr. Carnes continued: "Many of you still farm 

 as the Pilgrims did when they landed in New Eng- 

 land nearly three hundred years ago. In early days 

 it was believed that when a boy was not fit for any- 

 thing else he was the boy to stay on the farm. That 

 time has passed, but maybe you never noticed it. 

 Farming, to-day, requires an entirely different class 

 of men from what it did a hundred years ago. We 

 can no more afford to have a sleepy-head at the 



