INTRODUCTION. 39 
stone and applying it at the rate of about 5 tons to 
the acre. Probably that is too little; it is yet too 
early to know. We feel sure that when we have 
made the drainage right and the lime content right 
we will grow as much alfalfa over all the farm as 
we now grow on those favored spots. Then we can 
proudly boast, sure enough! Then we can say: 
“‘Wrom 100 acres of land we harvested 500 tons of 
alfalfa hay.’’ It may take time to reach this con- 
dition. It may not even come in my day. But we 
have boys and to these boys we bequeath the ideal, 
the task, and to them will fall the pleasant duty of 
spreading these spots of gloriously beautiful alfalfa, 
rich and productive beyond anything else that could 
be sown. 
It may be of interest to know something of 
the present system of farming on Woodland Farm. 
Let us begin with the alfalfa sod that is to die that 
corn may live. It is plowed usually in November 
and during the winter. Perhaps the field was mown 
off late, four cuttings being taken from it, in antici- 
pation of its impending destruction. We find that 
late cutting is bad for the alfalfa and do not usually 
cut it later than early in September. This field to 
be devoted to corn then will be mown off late, as it 
does not matter how much the roots are weakened. 
Usually we plow with very strongly built walking 
plows. We put two wheels on the beam, well in 
front; one wheel runs in the furrow, the other on the 
unplowed land. These wheels hold the beam rigidly 
in place, and thus the plow runs well; a boy can man- 
