INTRODUCTION. 23 



has not been tried yet. You may have that potato 

 patch down by the old orchard; that is good soil. 

 Begin there and if that succeeds we will sow more 

 later on." The potato patch had in it one-third of 

 an acre. That was quite a coming down from his 

 expectations, but he acquiesced and sowed the little 

 field. Fortunately it was a good place to begin. The 

 land was a strong clay loam, fairly well drained. It 

 was full of carbonate of lime, for all through it were 

 little pebbles of limestone. It was rich, for the cattle 

 had stood there much when it was a part of the 

 orchard. In some way or another it had become 

 inoculated with alfalfa bacteria, perhaps because the 

 father had grown sweet clover on the farm for years 

 in odd corners and in his dooryard. So this alfalfa 

 started out vigorously and grew well. The boy was 

 delighted. He had a path well trodden where he 

 had walked to see his. first field. It settled in his 

 mind the question of whether alfalfa would grow; 

 lie had no doubt whatever now that it would grow. 

 Eapidly his mind went on ahead to the time when 

 he would have 40, maybe 100 acres in alfalfa. The 

 farm at; that time had in it only about 50 or 60 acres 

 of land that could be plowed. The rest was wet or 

 poor or covered with trees. 



That summer came another boy from the old 

 ranch, Willis. He was a wiry, slender lad, just out 

 of his high school, and had spent about a year at 

 ranching, getting health and strength there prepara- 

 tory to going further with his education. He did 

 not then dream of becoming a farmer, yet he was 



