INTRODUCTION. 27 



with her, and when the women of the house went out 

 to see they found the old man lying in the wagon 

 as though peacefully sleeping, with a half smile on 

 his lips, dead. It was a fitting end. He had lived a 

 strenuous life, he had been good, he had been kind ; 

 he had been builder not destroyer, and wherever his 

 foot had been put down there rich grasses and 

 clovers had sprung up. 



The writer makes no pretense of being as good or 

 careful a farmer as his father was. We try to fol- 

 low in his footsteps, that is all, and we do things in 

 a larger way than he in his old age cared to do them. 

 Yes, the father was gone, and with him the safe 

 counselor, and the boy all at once realized how much 

 he had depended upon this counsel. He could do 

 as he pleased now, but he was not glad of the chance. 

 He would have been very glad indeed if he could 

 have had the continued company of the old father. 



He took account of stock. The farm was not pay- 

 ing; the crops that grew upon it when all sold could 

 not possibly bring money enough to make it a busi- 

 ness worth while. Much of the land was too poor 

 to be profitable. The little alfalfa fields paid well, 

 but they were but small spaces after all; the rest of 

 the farm was mostly unfit for alfalfa. The farm 

 needed enriching, needed further drainage. If ever 

 it paid it must be made rich. How? Well, there 

 was stable manure. The boy knew about that; the 

 old father had been a most careful user of manure ; 

 he saved all that he could, but he fed his cattle out 

 in the woods where the manure was largely wasted. 



