THE SECOND CHAPTER OF A BEGINNER’S LUCK—THE BATTLE WITH BUGS AND BLIGHT—WHERE WEEDS 
PAID BETTER THAN POTATOES—HOW THE GADARENE SWINE CAME BACK—CONSOLATIONS OF PHILOSOPHY 
toes. As tomatoes are grown extensively in my neighborhood 
under contract for the canneries, and are said to pay very well, 
we decided to test the matter by setting out about two acres. 
Agents of the canneries offered $8.40 per ton for select fruit, 
delivered at the wharf, and I entered into a contract with one 
of them to that effect. Ten tons per acre is considered a good 
yield, while six to eight tons is considered fair. 
My general scheme for the farm had been to get about five acres 
seeded to alfalfa as soon as possible, but as alfalfa should not be 
planted until August or September and I did not wish the land 
to lay idle, I planned to put five acres in soja beans, either to plow 
under for green manure, to precede alfalfa, or to cut for hay. 
About one acre was reserved for a truck garden, in addition to 
that already devoted to asparagus, strawberries, etc. The two 
acres that had been sowed in scarlet clover the previous fall were 
to he plowed under, and after being spread with lime and prop¬ 
erly cultivated, seeded with alfalfa. 
Having realized very promptly after buying my farm that the 
land was in a sadly impoverished condition, I was very anxious 
to improve its fertility. The planting of scarlet clover and soja 
beans was in line with this idea. To plan improvements of this 
kind is easy, but to carry them out with limited capital is often 
much more difficult. All the farmers in my vicinity required for 
O UR second year on the farm was entered upon with con¬ 
fident expectations of success. This was to he in reality 
our first year of real farming, because for the first year we had 
had but little choice in putting out the crops—the entire farm had 
been sown in wheat when we purchased it, and I did not wish to 
disturb any more of it than was necessary. But this year we were 
free to plant anything we wished. 
To the amateur farmer one of the most delightful seasons of 
the year is the late winter or early spring when, with the assist¬ 
ance of various catalogs, he plans the crops proposed for the com¬ 
ing season. He fairly revels in estimating hypothetical profits. We 
were no exception. Emulating the success of a neighbor who, the 
previous year, had gathered twelve hundred bushels of potatoes 
from three acres, we decided to devote about three acres to pota¬ 
By pecking relentlessly at the surface soil the moisture was 
conserved and weeds reduced to a minimum in the truck patch, 
of a rising bug generation 
The operation also served to kill the eggs 
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