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; 
he had no doubt whatever now that it would grow. 
Rapidly 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 
