What We Have Done. 43 



acres of potatoes two-thirds of our cultivated land. It had 

 been our intention to put in but 18 acres, leaving some 12 of 

 wheat and half as many of clover to mow for the horses (we had 

 got about out of cattle business then). But in the spring, after 

 the clover was plowed, the wheat was so badly winter-killed that 

 we decided to plow half of it and plant potatoes again. This 

 wheat was not water-killed, mind you, but frozen down into the 

 roots by a sudden change to very cold after some days of warm 

 weather. But we were more frightened than hurt, as the wheat 

 left came out pretty well after all. This was so*on after I began 

 writing some for the papers, and one man suggested to me that 

 he would not say anything in the papers about planting so many 

 potatoes until I found how it came out. He evidently thought 

 we had undertaken too much. But we had had considerable ex- 

 perience and the crop was grown and turned into money in good 

 shape, and we pocketed nearly $2,800 for the potatoes alone. This 

 was the largest return we have ever had. The house was com- 

 pleted that fall and paid for, cash down, about $2,500, and about 

 $1,000 worth of furniture was bought. 



Some of our talking friends then said, " Well, he has built a 

 house, but it will sink him." We heard that we had borrowed 

 the money of a certain man who had a mortgage on the farm, and 

 also that a rich brother-in-law had given it to my wife. It was so 

 hard for them to believe that any one could make money when 

 they were not doing so. We quietly laughed and kept still. The 

 next year we held on and let our money in the bank increase a 

 little. We had been terribly hard up so long that wife and I 

 determined, come what would, we would never spend our last 

 dollar for improvements. We could have paid our last $500 on 

 debt sooner, but waited until we could spare it and not run any 

 risk of getting short. Oh, how much easier to make money when 

 you have cash capital to work with and take advantage of all 

 opportunities ! In 1885 we could hardly undertake safely to build 

 a new barn, as much as we wanted to, so we did what helped us 

 out greatly built a nice tool house, 22x56 feet, at a cost of $400. 

 This year I think it was that we lost a part of our potato crop by 

 having them freeze down after they were well started. This held 

 us back a little, so we did not build a barn until 1887. Then a 

 good one, costing $1,400, was put up, and paid for cash down. 

 Later the large covered barnyard was finished up, and some $500 

 worth more furniture bought for the house, as well as carriages, 

 new harnesses, etc., for the barn. When we built the tool house 

 it was said that would certainly sink him, on top of the house. 

 But, after the large, fine barn was finished up and painted three 

 coats, people stopped talking, as far as I know. They began to 

 think, I suspect, that our farming was on a safe basis. It was 

 cash down for everything. 



