58 TOM’S EHXPEHRIENCE 
work will pay. Of course no other cultivation is 
possible on the sod. The destruction of the weeds, 
and so preventing their going to seed, will save work 
the next year, especially if the ground should be 
planted in corn; and the killing of the grass promotes 
the rotting of the sod. 
THE GROWING CROPS. 
You can well suppose that I watched the progress 
of my growing crops this year with more than ordi- 
nary interest. There was so much at stake. I wanted 
to get that mortgage removed from my farm, for al- 
though it was in the hands of my friend Bright, I ' 
knew that I could breathe freer and feel vastly more 
independent if it were cleared off. 
The season was a fairly favorable one—neither ex- 
tra good nor very poor. Twice I thought the crops 
were going to be seriously injured by drouth, but 
rains came in time to prevent much damage. But 
more rain would have been better. 
HARVESTING AND THRESHING. 
Harvest came, and I went to work with my 
self-binder and the necessary help, and got both oats 
and wheat in shock in good condition, and had time 
to run my reaper a few days for my neighbors whose 
erops were not quite so early as mine. 
I decided to thresh and sell my crops without un- 
necessary delay. Wheat was then worth ninety-five 
cents per bushel at the elevator in Kingston, and oats 
