Laying Out the Farm. 67 



to buy tiles and pay for labor. I had had my 12 acres near town 

 that I traded for the farm well tile-drained when living on it, and 

 knew the results, and knew practically, from watching the work 

 of a real expert from England, something about laying the tiles. 



Now, of course, during these days, we paid no attention to 

 the shape of these fields. We took the good land in the shape we 

 found it. This was working at a disadvantage ; we could not 

 accomplish as much in a given time as if the fields had been better 

 arranged. But we were obliged to improve little by little. I 

 doubt, however, whether I thought anything about this at first. 

 I began just as others had always done on this farm. When they 

 cut the first timber, or "deadened" a piece, they looked around 

 and found three or four acres in a body that seemed to be dry and 

 pretty good soil and cleared it for tillage. It made no difference 

 what shape it was in. Then they fenced this. Afterwards they 

 cleared another patch in the same way and fenced it, and so on. 

 And to the day I came here the farm had been worked in just that 

 way in little patches here and there, no matter whether in good 

 shape for fast tillage or not. This, together with swales cutting 

 diagonally across lots, and cat swamps here and there, and part 

 clay land that needed tile drainage, made the prospect poor 

 enough for a young, green farmer without money. While I think 

 of it, I will say that the big manure piles we made from keeping 

 so many cattle winters went onto these few acres that we began 

 on largely. And more than this, the manure put onto the five 

 acres was nearly all put onto the front half, the back half of lot 

 being treated from the very start with clover. This was not pur- 

 posely done at first, but was a mere accident,- and a lucky 

 accident it was, too. I speak of this here because then you can 

 understand better how it was when I come to w r rite about clover 

 in future chapters. Some writers have thought that I made my 

 land rich with manure from these cattle. This was a natural 

 conclusion. I made some few acres rich with manure. That is 

 true. I made many more very productive, at least, with clover. 

 I tell only what I have done and what I know. In my prize 

 report, written some ten years ago, I said, hastily, in a foot note : 

 ' ' We put about $40 worth of home-made manure on each acre 

 for potatoes, etc." It needs to be explained that \ve had only 

 fairly began at this at that time, and soon quit keeping so many 

 animals, and, further, that that $40 worth of manure was more 

 than half muck, which the State chemist valued far more highly 

 than practical experience proved to be true, and I was then 

 depending on the chemist, as will be explained in another place. 



The time finally came when we went at it and completely re- 

 arranged the whole farm in as businesslike shape as was possible 

 from the lay of the land. We had been working towards this 

 systematically for some time before by clearing and draining at 

 odd spells. We turned out for nothing, but made everything 



