A VAGABOND GARDEN 29 



" Do you really intend to sow wheat in forty 

 acres ? " he inquired. 



" I understood that the crop grown on fallow land 

 represented the principal contribution to the grain 

 harvest," I said, " and as far as I can judge the grain 

 can be the only substantial source of one's income 

 for a time." 



" Ah ! grain grown from the fallow land which 

 has been even fairly well worked," he explained. 

 " This field is the best in the neighbourhood and 

 I expect its prospect went to Alan's head. At any 

 rate he put in very little work on forty acres this 

 year. There is about fifteen acres in the centre 

 which he ploughed in late June. Didn't you notice 

 that it wasn't nearly so thickly covered with growth 

 as the land on either side ? If your brother ploughed 

 that fifteen acres now, and again in the spring, after 

 the seed which must be scattered on the present 

 surface has had time to shoot, it will be a fairly 

 good bed for barley next year, because barley can 

 be sown as late as June. But wheat is out of the 

 question ; and believe me it is perfectly hopeless 

 to think of using the remaining twenty-five acres 

 as a seed-bed next year. You should put the mower 

 to all that growth at once, burn the refuse, then 

 disc and harrow. Next year plough lightly in May, 

 then plough deep early in July, cultivate until the 

 freeze-up, and in 1907 you should obtain a good 

 result." 



" That means that I ought not to put in a crop at 

 all next year." 



" Not quite. There is the fifteen acres your 

 brother is now at work on, which should yield 

 excellent pig-feed, and the ten- and four-acre arms 



