18 ALFALFA FARMING IN AMERICA. 



meadow and pasture land, with a fine bit of wood- 

 land, and about 50 acres part of the time under the 

 plow. It was farmed in the old-fashioned way — 

 corn followed by wheat and wheat by clover and 

 timothy. Hogs were kept and cattle; timothy hay 

 was sold with wheat, pigs, fat steers, potatoes, 

 parsnips, pears, grapes and a few minor items. The 

 father was a careful man, economical to a degree, 

 hard working and patient. He loved his land and 

 cared for it as best he could, saving every scrap of 

 manure and tilling the soil with diligence. He loved 

 his animals and fed them well. His driving mare 

 was almost too wide to get between the shafts; his 

 cattle knew him and would stand to be rubbed and 

 petted. It was through no lack of industry or in- 

 telligence that the father had not of late years made 

 the farm pay ; it was due mainly to his following an 

 unprofitable system of farming. 



When the boy came home there was an old lame 

 negro man helping do the farm work, old "Uncle 

 Sam" they called him, a faithful old soul but slow 

 and feeble. In the feedlot were about eight steers, 

 maybe twenty pigs were being fattened, in the crib 

 Ijrobably 500 bushels of corn, in the mows maybe 50 

 tons of hay. The boy took it all in very rapidly 

 and a great hunger for the old ranch came over him, 

 a hunger and a longing for its wide free life and 

 its endless range of activities. To add to his unrest 

 a letter followed him, a letter from the manager. It 

 read like this: "Come back, Joe, as soon as you 

 can. Your place is awaiting you, and more wages if 



